Last week, I attended the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group annual conference at Plater College, Oxford. I think all who were there would agree that it was an enjoyable event with plenty of stimulating papers. I hope more of the postgrad community will be able to attend next year, as it's well worth your while coming along. (If you have concerns about cost, accessibility or your place at these events, then please voice them on this list - perhaps there is something we can do to dispel fears and offer some support.)
During the conference, Neil Elliot and I convened a forum for the postgraduate delegates there. The idea was to invite postgraduate students in the sociology of religion to share their experiences and discuss any problems or concerns they might have related to their experience as a researcher. We had a thoroughly useful discussion and talked a lot about how the study group might support its postgrad members more effectively. Many thanks to those of you who were able to attend the forum and share your ideas - I hope to arrange something similar for next year's conference. The following is a brief summary of our discussion, combined with feedback sent to me by other postgraduates in the sub-discipline.
Firstly, it's worth mentioning the positive comments made about the study group postgraduate conference held at Bristol each year. All of those who have attended have said how useful the event has been, as a context for both learning more about the research process from experienced academics, and for forging networks of support with fellow postgraduates. I attended twice during my time as a doctoral student and found the conference offered useful advice in a warm and supportive environment. I urge all of you to consider attending next year (the conference is usually held late January in Bristol.) I would be happy to pass on any information to those interested.
Those students who attended the postgraduate forum emphasised the need for a peer group among which they could ask for and share advice with others in the same boat. While the BSA study group offers support for postgraduates through the annual postgraduate conference, we all felt that this support could be extended into an informal network fostered and extended through this very email list. It is with this in mind that I would like to encourage you all to use the list to air any queries, ask any questions and offer comments on any aspects of the research process. Whatever your query, there will be someone on the list who can help, or at the very least put you in contact with someone who can. At this point, it is also worth emphasising that, other than myself as postgraduate liaison officer, all members of this list are active postgraduate students in the sociology of religion or related areas of study. I think I speak for those postgraduates whom I met at Oxford, that we would like to keep this email list as informal and supportive as possible. Therefore, no question is a stupid one! Please use the list to further your own knowledge, as well as to offer your help to others who might benefit.
The question now arises as to what kind of issues might be addressed on the list. Well, you might wish to raise anything to do with the research process, but to get you started, I will list some of the issues raised at the forum, as areas which people feel could do with some explanation or response. As Neil Elliot has suggested before, we might like to approach these as FAQs (frequently asked questions):
1. Is it possible to compile a basic bibliography in the sociology of religion? (This may sound like a tall order, but it would be useful to have an up-to-date booklist of the literature considered either fundamental to the discipline, or else the books viewed as being authoritative general overviews of the subject area.)
2. What software packages are available which would assist researchers in qualitative or quantitative analysis in the sociology of religion. Which are the best ones, and how do they compare with one another? How much do they cost?
3. How might the world wide web be used as a research tool? What are the ethical and methodological issues generated by the use of, for example, email questionnaires? Is there anything published on this?
4. What are the best journals available in the sociology of religion, and what kind of sub-areas do each of them tend to cover?
5. How do other academic organisations compare with the BSA and its study group? What are the relationships between them and which organisations are worth joining?
These are just a few basic questions which came up at the postgrad forum, and I would encourage anybody who has an opinion on these matters to submit it to the email list. We would love to have your input and build up a shared knowledge resource among the postgrad community. (Remember, all messages submitted to this list are stored on the jiscmail archive and can be accessed from the jiscmail website.)
Finally, it was agreed at the forum that we would all benefit from a detailed list of those individuals registered on this email list. Therefore, I would like to encourage all members to submit a brief description of who they are, where they are based and what they are researching onto the list. It would also be useful to know where each of you are based home-wise, as home towns are often at a distance from university, and some of you may like the option of meeting informally in person at some point, to swap ideas or seek advice.
It is my hope that this list will be used as a source of advice, support and correspondence by postgrads across the sub-discipline. It could be an invaluable resource, so please take advantage of that and I look forward to hearing from all of you soon.
All the best,
Mathew Guest.
BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group, Postgraduate Liaison Officer.