Future Plans Undecided
Image by Javier Allegue Barros. Licensed by Unsplash.
Where to from here? At the time of writing, I am half way through the first year of the Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil) course at Macquaire University. This post graduate course work program is designed to deepen the awareness of the student to the relevant literature in their field as well as build the skills necessary to engage in Higher Degree Research (HDR).
Following the B.Phil is a Masters of Research (M.Res) through which students have the opportunity to research and write a 20,000-word thesis in consultation with a supervisor.
At this stage I am anticipating that I will complete the second half of my B.Phil degree in 2022 and begin my M.Res research and thesis in 2023. Whether I am able to complete this research at part or full time will depend on funding and respective employment. The proposed timeline of my research is detailed in the Gantt Chart below which assume a fulltime M.Res year.
As the title of this article implies (borrowed from the excellent 2000 album by indie punk band Element 101), I do not yet have a firm plan on the direction my M.Res project, let alone the scope of my PhD.
One possibility might be to use the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity alongside a bespoke ethnographic survey and notes based on Barbara Rogoff’s “intent community participation”. These two research tools could be used in combination to investigate the relative attitude towards Christianity from children in churches with different levels of participation. The hypothesis being tested would be that children who are active participants in their faith communities—as defined by Rogoff’s ICP framework—have high measures of positive attitude towards Christianity.
This kind of a project would benefit from integration of digital resources including quantitative and qualitative data software (e.g. Qualtrics) to gather and analyse the results of surveys and ethnographic observations. Due to the nature of surveying children, data management and anonymity would play a significant part of the ethics proposal, using software with extensive security in order to protect the information about these vulnerable survey subjects.
However, there is still much I don’t know. As is not uncommon, I am more aware at this stage of what I don’t know that what I do, especially in the areas of collaborative memory and the social-construction of beliefs and values in children.
However, my continued curiosity, as diagrammed below, is the threading together of theology, developmental psychology and the sociology of faith fomation in the Christian Church. What can we discover about how God has created the mind and established the workings of healthy communities so that children in the context of intergenerational churches continue in the Christian faith as they grow as disciples?
If you have suggestions for research topics or scholars I should be reading, I would love to hear from you. Offers of patronage enthusiastically considered.
Sociocultural Faith Formation. © Tim Beilharz, 2021.