A Multinational Study on Young Adults and Contemporary (Non)religion: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

Abstract

AbstractHow can we comprehend contemporary forms of religion? What is an adequate methodological approach? Religion as an object of study has become increasingly evasive and there is an urgent need to address the limitations emerging from previous conceptual bias and limited empirical perspectives. This chapter presents the international research project Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective (YARG), its aims, questions, leading ideas and perspectives. In particular, we shed light on the mixed-method approach that was developed in order to meet the current challenges and demands. At the core of this is the Faith Q-Sort (FQS), a novel method for assessing religiosity developed by David Wulff (J Sci Study Relig 58:643–665, 2019). The chapter describes the strength of FQS for comparisons across cultures and its potential to expose new and emerging worldview subjectivities and defining elements in these. Finally, we shed light on how we applied the mixed method approach in studies of relevant themes.