Messy Methods in Researching Religion

This book offers first-hand accounts of the complexities and challenges that researchers have encountered when researching religion, values, and culture.

This unique book investigates the real-world complexities, challenges, and mistakes that are often encountered when researching religion, values, and culture. Featuring the reflections of researchers from across the social sciences and humanities, it offers vivid accounts of designing and executing both small-scale and much larger projects. Some chapters describe in detail the process and rationale behind methodological decisions, including challenges, adaptations, and revisions. Others reveal how things went wrong in the research process, even past the point of recovery, and what was learned. There is reflection on wider conceptual, theoretical, and ethical debates about ''religion'' and what they mean in practice. In acknowledging the messiness of researching religion, the volume seeks to humanize and improve it. The honest reflections it contains will help researchers avoid some common mistakes and face others openly without losing heart.