Full Citation

Title: Going Global: Testing Theories with International Data

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2014

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Abstract: My presentation will review the opportunities and challenges for collecting new sources of international data and for using the data to test theory. First, I will look at the national and cultural context of religion and introduce some of the most recent cross-national data collections. Building on this introduction, I will review the opportunities these new data collections offer for exploring new research questions and testing old theoretical queries. Second, I will look at religion within countries. Here I will stress the importance of exploring the interactions between religions as well as understanding the distinctive religious beliefs, behaviors and spiritual experiences of each religion. Once again, I will introduce new data sources and propose theoretical and substantive issues that should be addressed. Finally, I will discuss how levels of analysis can be combined to better test the theoretical questions we are posing, allowing us to assess how individual decision-making is made within a local and national context. For each of these areas, I offer examples from my own research on how the data can be used and I discuss the implications of the new data for future research and theory.

Url: http://www.thearda.com/workingpapers/download/Going Global -- Finke.pdf

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Authors: Finke, Roger

Conference Name: University Centre Saint Ignatius Antwerp seminar on Religion and Culture in a Globalized World

Publisher Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Data Collections: IPUMS Global Health - DHS

Topics: Methodology and Data Collection, Other

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