| By professor of psychology. Prof. Dr., Kevin Ladd Department of Psychology, Indiana University, South Bend, Indiana Post Conference Ressources Video – open here PowerPoint – download here |
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Abstract
This presentation examines the contemporary discussion surrounding the use of mixed methods within psychology at large, and in the psychology of religion in particular. While it is possible to interpret history in a manner so as to suggest that mixed methods approaches were among the earliest in the discipline, that reading often focuses exclusively on the techniques employed. Contemporary voices, however, contend that data collection strategies are (or can become over time) deeply saturated with philosophical assumptions; they argue that methods convey meaning. To the extent that this is an accurate observation, the decision to move from employing exclusively qualitative or exclusively quantitative methods to an integrative practice entails making a significant, though often unexamined, shift in understanding the nature of the research process.
An ongoing series of studies exploring the psychology of prayer is described as one pragmatic example of how mixing methods helped not just to enrich data collection, but also played a role in the conceptualization of this core religious behavior.