Ethnographic research topic: The Christian Community at large
My Topic: Being a pastor’s son, I’ve grown up in the church; something I consider a huge privilege and blessing. Over the years, I have grown closer to God and have found the image I had of the church begin to shift. It shifted from the church just being a place where people met up to worship Jesus, into a community, a family, a home where people do life together. I continue to find this more and more interesting as I grow in Christ, especially when taking into account the increased usage of technology and media in both the world, and the church. Over thousands of years, this foundational idea that was laid down by Jesus continues to permeate not just throughout the church, but through the Christian community at large. It’s this topic that I want to base my ethnographic research on.
Focus: To be more specific, I want to research the impact that the increased usage of mobile technology and media in Christian communities has aided in creating this loving atmosphere. I want to learn of the techniques used, the pros and cons of them, and which techniques help create this desired atmosphere, and which don’t.
Specification of Interviews: Christians of various ages from different communities. This will range from community leaders and administrators, to random community members. I am looking to conduct as many interviews as possible to get a number of different perspectives. I will definitely get three at least.
Calendar:
- 7/1: Schedule Interviews and start research
- 7/2–7/5: Conduct Interviews and continue research
- 7/6: Draw conclusions/Create thesis/Begin first draft
- 7/7: Review, edit, and turn in draft!
