Social Research Methods: For Students and Scholars of Theology and Religious Studies
Joshua Iyadurai
Chennai: Marina Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Religion, 2023., pp. 302
Dr. Joshua Iyadurai, a lecturer and researcher from the University of Madras (Department of Christian Studies, India), is the author of an innovative textbook in the field of Methodology that offers a view of the research methods in the social sciences through their application in theology and religious studies. The textbook is intended for students and scientists, as well as practitioners involved in pastoral practice and ministry to the church. The book was published in 2023 in English under the name Social Research Methods. For Students and Scholars of Theology and Religious Studies by the Marina Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Religion, Chennai, India.
The book aims to respond to the question of how to overcome the marginalization of evangelical theology, which Mark Noll, Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., and David Wells wrote about back in 1995 in their well-known article “Evangelical Theology Today” emphasizing the need for a dialogue between theology, culture, and society that is interdisciplinarily grounded.
The starting point for Iyadurai’s argument is the methodological paradigm of the 21st century, the lived faith. He believes that the lived faith experience shifts the focus of theology from being “rhetorical and speculative to constructivist,” offering a different set of “hermeneutical tools” based upon “the expertise of social sciences” (p. xvii). The author argues that the interdisciplinary openness allows theology to retain its distinctive foundation in the Word while at the same time, using the knowledge of other disciplines, improving its abilities to understand society and its relationship with God, and becoming “more intelligible in engaging the world” (p. xxvi). Here, Iyadurai follows Veli-Matti Karkkainen (2015, 3:235–241) who says that theology is a complete truth revealed in a complex world in which knowledge changes and expands extremely quickly; thus, respect for the plurality of cultures and religions, as well as sensitiveness to the intra-church and ecumenical dialogue is a necessity that protects theology from its rigidity and too easy adaptation to science. Similarly, Iyandurai begins his book by claiming that “when theology engages social sciences from this position, it guards itself against reductionism, while considering insights from social sciences to have a holistic understanding of the social world in relation to God” (p. xvii).
The book has 302 pages. The nine chapters offer content that is easy to read although the methods presented are rather complex. By combining well-designed content, academic language, and examples, the reader is provided with a substantial amount of knowledge as well as skills needed for conducting interdisciplinary research at the M.A. and/or Ph.D. level. Iyadurai presents the qualitative and quantitative research methods, and the combined methods of research, giving useful tips about how to write a hypothesis (p. 118), define basic research concepts (p. 119), determine the validity of a claim (p. 123), define the sample (p. 126), structure questionnaires and research questions (p. 132), conduct interviews (p. 138), analyze and present research results, etc. (p. 156). The author also provides examples about how to narrow down the research and formulate the main title and subtitles (p. 170), create clear research objectives (p. 180), define primary source population and sampling (p. 183), and discusses in length the importance of proper data collection, reliability of sources and ways of data analysis (p.185) as well as how to write a research report, dissertation and journal article (p. 191).
The book may be of interest to students and researchers also because Iyadurai lists references to software that can be used to create notes and organize the research, such as EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley (p. 31), and NVIVO – a program that enables quantitative data analysis (pp. 32 and 106) and instructions how to use apps such as Zoom, Webex, Google Meet, Skype, as well as Debut Video Capture, Camtasia, Audacity and other for online interviews, meetings, focus groups and the like (p. 82). The author also refers readers to software that combines analyses of text, audio, video, and other types of docs, such as ATLAS.ti, HyperRESEARCH, MAXQDA, QDA Miner, Transana, RDQA etc. (p. 106). He also explains the role of a supervisor in the research as someone who offers intellectual, professional, administrative as well as pastoral care to the student (p. 221). The book contains a six-page dictionary (p. 245), an extensive list of references (p. 252), and an index (p. 263) which makes it easier for the readers to find their way through the book.
This book is a good overview of classic and more recent methods in social science research that can be very useful for interdisciplinary research in theology. The clear focus on showing that theology, as “understanding God’s activity in relation to human community and the world… [that] cannot isolate itself but must engage social sciences to study lived theology or lived religion” (p. xxvi) points also to its limitations. Namely, Iyadurai’s focus on the study of social science methods does not include a variety of methods useful for research in the areas of biblical studies, exegesis, systematic theology, church history, and the like, and “fails even to suggest the contours of a theological approach to methodology” (Holmes and Lindsay 2018). A reference to the ongoing debate between Christian theology and the various theoretical streams (as mentioned in Holmes and Lindsay 2018, between theology and philosophy, social theory, psychology, biological and physical sciences, and so forth), might have been a helpful addition for a Christian researcher.
Julijana Mladenovska-Tešija