Study Title: “Religious-Secular Liminality: Faith, Doubt, and Transition in
Worldview Construction.”
Principle Investigator: Jesse M. Smith, PhD
Time/Place: Choice of virtual or in-person interview at a time and location
convenient to the study participant.
Study details:
I am conducting a study of religious and secular beliefs and the transitions individuals make between the two. The purpose of this study is to develop a deeper understanding of the liminal spaces between religion and the secular. The focus is on transitions made through the life course as individuals move between religious and nonreligious identities, faith and doubt, secular and religious beliefs and commitments. Rather than investigating a linear, one-way trajectory of people who convert to or exit religion, this study will focus on transitions themselves, and the liminal states individuals occupy as they negotiate, construct, deconstruct, adopt or abandon particular beliefs, identities, and worldviews.
If you have experienced such a transition at any point in your life and are interested in learning more about being interviewed about your experience, please contact me at jesse.smith@wmich.edu. I’ll be happy to provide you with further information and respond to any questions you might have about the study. This research has been approved by Western Michigan University’s Institutional Review Board.
Sincerely,
Jesse M. Smith, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology
Western Michigan University
Email: jesse.smith@wmich.edu
Phone: 720-936-6615
