Religion in Public Institutions. Methodological Challenges, Institutional Comparisons, and Key Variables
Sophie Gilliat-Ray
Leiden
Brill
This afterword offers some reflections on the methodological challenges of conducting research in public institutions, especially prisons and hospitals. I consider the need to take an interdisciplinary approach and to properly involve stakeholders. The second part of the discussion considers the practical implications of being a researcher in an institution, including access, self-presentation, and reflexivity. Towards the end of the article, attention is paid to the way in which public institutions enable us to see new religious discourses in microcosm.