The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion (Routledge Handbooks in Religion)

This is the first comprehensive survey in English of research methods in the field of religious studies. It is designed to enable non-specialists and students at upper undergraduate and graduate levels to understand the variety of research methods used in the field. The aim is to create awareness of the relevant methods currently available and to stimulate an active interest in exploring unfamiliar methods, encouraging their use in research and enabling students and scholars to evaluate academic work with reference to methodological issues. A distinguished team of contributors cover a broad spectrum of topics, from research ethics, hermeneutics and interviewing, to Internet research and video-analysis. Each chapter covers practical issues and challenges, the theoretical basis of the respective method, and the way it has been used in religious studies, illustrated by case studies. Content: Introduction : research methods in the study of religion\s / Michael Stausberg and Steven Engler -- Comparison / Michael Stausberg -- Epistemology / Jeppe Sindig Jensen -- Feminist methodologies / Mary Jo Neitz -- Research design / Wade Clark Roof -- Research ethics / Frederick Bird and Laurie Lamoureux Scholes -- Content analysis / Chad Nelson and Robert H. Woods Jr. -- Conversation analysis / Esa Lehtinen -- Discourse analysis / Titus Hjelm -- Document analysis / Grace Davie and David Wyatt -- Experiments / Justin L. Barrett -- Facet theory methods / Erik H. Cohen -- Factor analysis / Kendal C. Boyd -- Field research: participant observation / Graham Harvey -- Free-listing / Michael Stausberg -- Grounded theory / Steven Engler -- Hermeneutics / Ingvild Sælid Gilhus -- History / Jörg Rüpke -- Interviewing / Anna Davidsson Bremborg -- Network analysis / Jimi Adams -- Phenomenology / James V. Spickard -- Philology / Einar Thomassen -- Semiotics / Robert A. Yelle -- Structuralism / Seth D. Kunin -- Structured observation / Michael Stausberg -- Surveys and Questionnaires / Juhem Navarro-Rivera and Barry A. Kosmin -- Translation / Alan Williams -- Videography / Hubert Knoblauch -- Auditory materials / Rosalind I.J. Hackett -- The internet / Douglas E. Cowan -- Material culture / Richard M. Carp -- Spatial methods / Kim Knott -- Visual culture / John Harvey. THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH METHODS IN THE STUDY OF RELIGION 4 Copyright 5 CONTENTS 6 LIST OF FIGURES AND PLATES 9 LIST OF TABLES 11 LIST OF BOXES 12 CONTRIBUTORS 14 PREFACE 21 PART I: Methodology 24 1.1 INTRODUCTION Research methods in the study of religion\s 26 1.2 COMPARISON 44 1.3 EPISTEMOLOGY 63 1.4 FEMINIST METHODOLOGIES 77 1.5 RESEARCH DESIGN 91 1.6 RESEARCH ETHICS 104 PART II: Methods 130 2.1 CONTENT ANALYSIS 132 2.2 CONVERSATION ANALYSIS 145 2.3 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 157 2.4 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS 174 2.5 EXPERIMENTS 184 2.6 FACET THEORY METHODS 201 2.7 FACTOR ANALYSIS 227 2.8 FIELD RESEARCH: Participant observation 240 2.9 FREE-LISTING 268 2.10 GROUNDED THEORY 279 2.11 HERMENEUTICS 298 2.12 HISTORY 308 2.13 INTERVIEWING 333 2.14 NETWORK ANALYSIS 346 2.15 PHENOMENOLOGY 356 2.16 PHILOLOGY 369 2.17 SEMIOTICS 378 2.18 STRUCTURALISM 389 2.19 STRUCTURED OBSERVATION 405 2.20 SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES 418 2.21 TRANSLATION 444 2.22 VIDEOGRAPHY 456 PART III: Materials 468 3.1 AUDITORY MATERIALS 470 3.2 THE INTERNET 482 3.3 MATERIAL CULTURE 497 3.4 SPATIAL METHODS 514 3.5 VISUAL CULTURE 525 Index 546 This is an insightful, highly original ethnographic interpretation of the hunting life of the Yukaghirs, a little-known group of indigenous people in the Upper Kolyma region of northeastern Siberia. Basing his study on firsthand experience, Rane Willerslev focuses on the practical implications of living in a "hall of mirrors" world-one inhabited by humans, animals, and spirits, all of whom are understood to be endless mimetic doubles of one another. In this world, human beings inhabit a betwixt-and-between state in which their soul is both substance and nonsubstance, both body and spirit, both their own and that of reincarnated others. Hunters are therefore both human and the animals they imitate, which forces them to steer a complicated course between the ability to transcend difference and the necessity to maintain their individual identity.

About the Author:
Rane Willerslev is an Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the Institute for Anthropology, Archaeology, and Linguistics at the University of Aarhus, Denmark

This is an insightful, highly original ethnographic interpretation of the hunting life of the Yukaghirs, a little-known group of indigenous people in the Upper Kolyma region of northeastern Siberia. Basing his study on firsthand experience with Yukaghir hunters, Rane Willerslev focuses on the practical implications of living in a "hall-of-mirrors" worldone inhabited by humans, animals, and spirits, all of whom are understood to be endless mimetic doubles of one another. In this world human beings inhabit a betwixt-and-between state in which their souls are both substance and nonsubstance, both body and soul, both their own individual selves and reincarnated others. Hunters are thus both human and the animals they imitate, which forces them to steer a complicated course between the ability to transcend difference and the necessity of maintaining identity. Basing his study on firsthand experience with Yukaghir hunters, Rane Willerslev focuses on the practical implications of living in a 'hall of mirrors' world, one inhabited by humans, animals and spirits, all of whom are understood to be endless mimetic doubles of one another