About the Book
This volume considers the implementation difficulties of researching religion online and reflects on the ethical dilemmas faced by sociologists of religion when using digital research methods. Bringing together established and emerging scholars, global case studies draw on the use of social media as a method for researching religious oppression, religion and identity in virtual worlds, digital communication within religious organisations, and young people’s diverse expressions of faith online. Additionally, boxed tips are provided throughout the text to serve as reminders of tools that readers may use in their own research projects.
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction: Digital Methodologies in the Sociology of Religion, Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (Coventry University, UK) and Suha Shakkour (University of Derby, UK)
Section I: Digitising Research in the Sociology of Religion
1. Methodological Challenges, Innovations and Growing Pains in Digital Religion Research, Heidi A Campbell (Texas A&M University, USA) and Brian Altenhofen (Texas A&M University, USA)
2. Surveying the Religious and the Non-Religious, Tristram Hooley (University of Derby, UK) and Paul Weller (University of Derby, UK)
3. Online Crowdsourcing Methods for Identifying and Studying Religious Groups as Special Populations, Victoria A. Springer (University of Nevada, Reno), Peter J. Martini (University of Nevada, Reno) and James T. Richardson (University of Nevada, Reno)
Section II: Social Networking Sites and Digital Ethnography
4. Facebook as anti-social media: using Facebook groups to engage opponents to the building of Dudley mosque, Chris Allen (University of Birmingham, UK)
5. Antagonism in religious discourse on YouTube, Stephen Pihlaja (Newman University, UK)
6. Online Sufism – Methodological Thoughts on Researching Esoteric Islam in an Online context, Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (Coventry University, UK)
7. Studying Digital Hinduism, Heinz Scheifinger (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, UK)
8. Young Sikhs’ Religious Engagement Online, Jasjit Singh (University of Leeds, UK)
Section III: Digital Communication
9. Studying Apps: Research Approaches to the Digital Bible, Tim Hutchings (Durham University, UK)
10. Videoconferencing as a tool facilitating feminist interviews with Muslim women who wear the niqab, Anna Piela (Leeds Trinity University, UK)
11. The Online Communication Model: A theoretical framework to analyse the Institutional Communication on the Internet, Daniel Arasa (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Italy) and Juan Narbona (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Italy)
12. Researching religious authority and organization: Digital and social media communication opportunities and challenges, Pauline Hope Cheong (Arizona State University, USA), Boris H. J. M. Brummans (University of Montreal, Canada) & Jennie M. Hwang (University of Montreal, Canada)
Section IV: Virtual Reality and Religion
13. Online Ethnographic Research: Avatars in Virtual Worlds, William Sims Bainbridge (National Science Foundation, USA)
14. Researching Religion, Digital Games and Gamers. (E-)Merging Methodologies, Simone Heidbrink (University of Heidelberg, Germany), Tobias Knoll (University of Heidelberg, Germany), Jan Wysocki (University of Heidelberg, Germany)
15. The G-d in the Machine: Studying the Representation and Performance of Judaism in PC Games using Multimodal Corpus-assisted Critical Discourse Analysis, Isamar Carrillo Masso (Bangor University, UK)
Afterword: Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (Coventry University, UK) and Suha Shakkour (University of Derby, UK)
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, at Coventry University, UK.
Suha Shakkour is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Derby, UK.
Review :
A phenomenal example of the masterful interweaving of the sociological study of religion with the ever-transforming world of digital technology, which makes it a must read for those interested in those subjects that fall within or between these two categories.
This volume is both a practical guide as well as a theoretical one, and encourages further research and conversation in the area of digital methods, ethics, and ethnographies. Digital Methodologies would be valuable not only to those whose research takes place in digital domains, but also as a helpful guide in distinguishing new from traditional methodologies, or to promote the use of new technologies and approaches in seminars or even the classroom. As a digital researcher, I found it timely, useful, and insightful.
This book is an essential resource for anyone thinking about using digital technologies in the social study of religious belief and non-belief. It should be on the reading lists of every research methods course and every course in the sociology of religion.
A practical handbook for digital methods and methodologies, and a wide ranging exploration of belief and faith communities—socially and digitally. From crowdsourcing to apps, this book demonstrates that digital methodologies are not just about doing research digitally, they are about understanding the social and the digital as one—digital contexts as well as digital methods, social media as a means and a lens, and the ethical challenges that inevitably arise. At once accessible and thought provoking, this book is set to be an effective platform for teaching and a rich basis for future research in the sociology of belief communities.
Digital Methodologies manages to be the rarest of methodology books: practical, focused, and filled with meaty case studies, making it useful to junior and senior scholars alike. The burgeoning study of digital religion—born from within so many disciplines—lacked the cohesiveness necessary for moving a research agenda forward. This book brings order to that chaos and establishes best practices, whether the research is honed on religious digital communication, virtual realities, social media or digital ethnography.
