22 Jun If possible, Id like to talk to the pri
If possible, Id like to talk to the priest/rabbi/minister/mullah/swami, although I realize she/he may be very busy.”
If time is short for the staff person you would like to talk to, mention that you wont need more than half an hour. In response to an inquiry like this, you will almost always be granted an interview. Try to complete the interview as soon as possible after your first visit.
Arrive at the interview with a list of questions that you would like to ask. Questions should be geared to the particular group you visit, but here are a few suggestions for more general questions:
1. How long have you been the spiritual leader of this religious group?
2. Would you give me a brief history of your group? When was it founded? What pattern of growth or decline has it followed? What are some of the important events that have occurred within the recent life of this congregation?
3. How would you describe your congregation? What is its special character? What makes it distinctive from other groups in the area?
4. How would you describe your members? Background, ethnicity, social class, education, employment, commitment to the religious group? Anything else?
5. How are policy decisions made within your religious community? What is the means of implementation? What role do you personally play in the decision-making process?
6. Please describe the various programs and groups that meet regularly at your church/synagogue/temple/mosque.
7. Do you have any information (especially printed information) that would be helpful for my project: a history of the congregation, annual report, orientational brochures?
8. Is your group growing or declining in numbers? Are there any interesting new directions being taken in the life of the community?
9. Could you tell me something about yourself? Where did you receive your religious training? How did you decide to become a religious leader? What other congregations have you served?
At the beginning of the interview, briefly tell the person you are interviewing about this class and your assignment. At the end of the interview, ask if it would be all right for you to attend an additional meeting, and ask which would be best for you to attend. If you feel you need an additional interview, you might also ask if he or she can suggest someone in the congregation who would be willing to be interviewed by you. (Get the phone number before you leave, if you can.)
It is easiest for you if you record your interview(s), but you need to ask permission first and should not insist if there is any hesitancy on the part of the person you want to interview. Ask, too, if the interviewee would prefer to be anonymous if quoted directly in your project write-up.
Structure of the Paper and Research
As you learn more about the group you have chosen, you may want to focus rather more sharply on a few specific areas or issues. For example:
Why is everyone in the group over 50 years of age?
What is speaking in tongues?
Why are these teen-agers willing to give up “worldly pleasures” (dancing, alcohol, movies) in order to be members of this group?
Why do members of this community spend so much time ministering to the poor and homeless?
Still, it is important to not focus your research too quickly. Attention should be given to at least some of the following questions in your investigation:
1. What is the history of the group? When was it founded? When did membership peak? What is the current membership? What have been the most significant shaping moments in the history of the congregation?
2. What is the social setting of the congregation? What is the neighborhood like? Do people commute to meetings, or is the membership of the group drawn from the local area?
3. What does the meeting place look like? What is the architectural style? How old is the building? How well maintained is it? How does it make you feel when you walk into the sanctuary?
4. How does the congregation worship? Formally or informally? Is there singing, meditation, recitations, a sermon?
5. What are the teachings and beliefs of the group? What is formally taught by the clergy? Does this differ from what the people actually believe? How would you describe the “world-view” of the members? What are their moral commitments?
6. What is the religious experience of the people like? What do people seem to feel when they worship? Is personal prayer or meditation stressed, or group worship? Is the group this-worldly or other-worldly?
7. What is the groups social structure and finances? How are decisions made? Does the congregation participate in decision- making? How? How is the group funded? How is money solicited?
8. What is the make-up of the group: age, gender, ethnicity, social class, typical employment? Do members seem to know each other? Is this a close-knit community?
9. What is the “social mission” of the group? What is the congregation attempting to do for its community? City? World? Is there some driving moral commitment central to the group?
10. What do you predict for the group in the future? Is the congregation growing? Aging? Attracting new members? What is the special character of the congregation in contrast to other congregations like and unlike it in the same area?
Whatever focus you develop in your paper, it is important to place that emphasis within the larger context of the three universal characteristics of any religious community: teaching, practice and social structure.
Participant Observation
Being a “participant observer” in no way means that you must convert to the groups religion in order to understand it (although some religious groups will certainly claim that you cannot really understand them unless you are one of them). Rather, participant observation is a way of collecting information by 1) attending meetings at which one takes careful notes, 2) interviewing “informants” who have special insight into the life of the community, and 3) consulting the writings of group members.
Participant observation takes time and it seldom yields any statistical data. It relies instead on insightful descriptions of meetings, events and persons, and uses sociological categories and ideal types to help generalize about what is observed. The strength of qualitative research (as opposed to quantitative research based on questionnaires and highly structured interviewing) is the richly textured data it yields.
Field Notes
Field notes are essential for the participant observer. Jotted notes may be taken on napkins, church bulletins, on in a field notebook purchased for the purpose. Notes may be written during a meeting you are observing, in a rest room during a break from the meeting, riding a bus home from a meeting or interview, or at your computer.
Field notes are often written in several stages:
Jotted notes. It may be inappropriate to take detailed notes during a worship service. Therefore, you might have to rely on your memory, perhaps aided by an informal note or two jotted during the meeting. These quick notes remind you of things you think you might otherwise forget when writing up your full field notes.
Full Field Notes. Within 24 hours of an observation or interview, full field notes should be written. Full field notes include detailed descriptions of:
1. The sequence of events at the meeting,
2. What was said and who said it,
3. A description of the environment,
4. The attitudes of the people involved,
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