Researching Lived Religion

Catalog description

Taught by JST. This course will introduce students to research methods for investigating religion sociologically. Students will learn how to pose well-conceptualized and theoretically informed research questions and then devise research designs based upon empirical study. Particular focus will be on training students to use in-depth interview, participant observation, content analysis and survey methodologies. Students will read exemplars of each of these methods and also be given opportunities to practice them vis-à-vis research topics generated by both the professor and themselves. This course is very highly recommended not only for Religion and Society students, but for any students who simply want to become knowledgeable about these methods or who intend to use one or more of them in addressing their thesis or dissertation topics. [20 max enrollment]