Archive
Learning from History: The Japanese Internment and Reactions to Muslim Americans
When Roanoke, Virginia Mayor David Bowers referred to the internment of the Japanese Americans in the context of the terrorist attacks by ISIS, he wasn’t the first to see the parallels between …
Go Through the Door The Right Way: DeVon Franklin on Faith Leadership
Entertainment executive DeVon Franklin spoke on how to lead with integrity and stay true to your call as the keynote speaker at the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement’s fourth annual Faith …
Praying for Rain in California
This piece originally appeared in the Yale ISM Review. “As an American Indian, all my life I have been cursed with the myth of the ‘Indian rain dance,’” Johnny P. Flynn wrote …
Syria’s Children Are Our Children
A couple weeks before the picture went viral, I stood on the very shores where three-year-old Aylan Kurdi’s body was found. I was in Turkey for a wedding and spent four days …
College-bound Sisters: Higher Education for Sisters in Africa
Earning an advanced degree can allow Catholic sisters in Africa to become administrators at schools, nurses and health workers and other professionals that serve their communities. Catholic sisters provide crucial services in …
Catholic Sisters Lead the Way in Africa
In Kenya, 27 percent of women and girls undergo Female Genital Mutilation. Catholic sisters have played a significant role in changing the culture and helping girls who are running away from FGM …
VOA: Hong Kong Protest Leaders Recall Spiritual Motivation At SSSR
CRCC Executive Director Donald Miller moderated a discussion with two of the founders of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement, a pro-democracy protest movement that came into being in 2014, at the 2015 Society …
A Saintly Start-Up: Why Some New Churches Avoid a Corporate Model
Snapchat’s recent deal to lease more than 40,000 square feet in Venice caused some neighbors to throw up their hands in a “there goes the neighborhood” gesture. “Run for your lives! The …
How might a journalist and a social scientist approach religion differently?
Qualitative sociology and anthropology are similar to journalism, but there are some key differences. The time a social scientist spends collecting data is usually much longer than a journalist. One of the …
Extra Resources
CRCC and the National Disaster Interfaiths Network have developed tip sheets on how to approach minority religious communities. While these are written in the context of disaster relief, they can also be …
How do I apply social science theoretical frameworks to make sense of my data?
Throughout this manual we refer to studying religion from the perspective of a social scientist. What makes the perspective of a social scientist so unique? In fact, why do we make the …
How do I take good photography, video or audio in the field?
Taking photography and recording audio and video can be helpful in many different ways. Looking back at your images can help you recall details that you might not have recorded in your …
What are the ethical considerations of fieldwork?
Before you start any sort of qualitative research, you must first consult your college or university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Each institution will have their own process and own expectations of the …
What data do you collect in participant observation?
Whenever you make an observation, conduct an interview or talk informally with someone about your project, you should consider this as a piece of data. It can both lead you back to …
What is “participant observation”?
In the context of studying religious groups, fieldwork consists of deep immersion and “hanging out” in other people’s social and cultural worlds in order to capture what they experience as meaningful and …
What are some techniques and strategies for interviewing?
First Things First Assure people of confidentiality and anonymity. Ask permission for recording interviews and/or taking down notes. You can discuss with the interviewee the benefits of recording versus taking down notes …
What are typical interview questions?
Biographical questions: Typically, a good way to start an interview is by beginning with a biographical or a life-history question. For example, you can ask them about their own spiritual or religious …
How do I prepare for an interview?
Getting Started At first, there may be some apprehension on the part of both the interviewer and interviewee. On the one hand, as an interviewer, you may be concerned that the person …
Whom should I interview?
Unless you have been assigned to study a particular group, your choices of which groups to study are nearly endless. If the purpose of your research study is to collect qualitative socio-cultural …
Why should I use interviews in my research?
Interviews are excellent tools to understand the meaning and significance of the ways in which individuals participate in various religious communities. Interviews are the face-to-face meetings you will arrange with participants of …