Chapter 3 in "Heat and Light" talks about building rapport with sources as an important component of doing a good interview. For our project, we will be contacting many expert sources, most of whom you will be speaking to for the first time. Have you thought about how you will build rapport and get them to open up and speak with you? Please identify one of the sources you will be contacting and describe your strategy for building rapport. Next, review the kinds of questions you are likely to ask them. Which of these questions do you think will produce the best results and why?
Due Sept. 16 @ 5 p.m.
I'm hoping to get in touch with Jefferson Bethke, the YouTube star who filmed "Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus" on YouTube. He has a contact page on his website, but he adds a disclaimer that says he can't get to every single email. (Not sure how busy he is now, years after his videos went viral).
ReplyDeleteHe also provides links to his social media accounts, which I could use as a last resource. His phone number is not listed, so I'll have to do some back-door contacting. I want to tell Bethke about the project we are working on and how he can play a major role by being a voice to represent millennials and religion.
My questions include: why are you not interested in organized religion, and why do you believe more millennials feel the same?
How do you follow Jesus without religion?
What would get you interested in any one church or congregation? Is there a certain teaching method or church model you have imagined?
I think by asking stranger questions, we'll get more unique responses. I want to see his side as someone who opposes religion and understand his motivation for posting his slam poem/rap. I would also ask about the responses he's received from those who advocate for religion. Time would be the biggest constraint—we'd have to wait for him to respond and be interested in speaking.
I contacted Neylan Mcbaine, author of "Women at Church," who has also done PR for the church and has her hands in a lot of PR and journalism. She's all about social issues and religion.
ReplyDeleteI contacted her through email and built a rapport by telling her what I liked about her book-- here's a quote from the email I sent to her. I wanted to compliment her and also establish the skills we were coming to her for:
"You're very talented at maintaining a tone that doesn't alienate people, and I admire your ability to aggregate online conversations and interviews. I felt that your book bridged a generational gap and successfully conveyed thoughts that plague millennial feminists' minds (along with feminists of every age)."
Here are some questions I'll likely ask her:
Why do you think millennials are losing interest in organized worship?
Since you have done PR for the LDS church, what have you learned about the way the church reaches out to millennials (if you're allowed to say)?
Any comments on the LDS church's recent initiative to focus on promoting sabbath day observance?
Do you have comments on any of the following phenomenons that may contribute to millennials losing interest in organized worship: apathy, interest in spirituality vs. religion, decreased attn. spans because of technology
How have you seen churches (LDS and otherwise) work to settle millennials' cognitive dissonance with social issues like LGBT rights and feminism?
How can churches better help settle millennials' cognitive dissonance with social issues like LGBT rights and feminism?
How effective do you think online support communities are for helping to retain struggling church members? You created a book that aggregated a lot of online conversations. Do you think people are overwhelmed by a lot of the online conversations and choose to ignore them? Is that why you chose to consolidate them in print? What areas of discussion could use a similar treatment?
I think Neylan will be most knowledgeable about our questions involving social issues and various churches (especially the LDS church). I'm interested to ask what contacts she has that we can speak with, esp. from other churches.
I talked with Dr. Packard and set up an interview for Wednesday via phone.
ReplyDeleteI plan on building a good rapport with him by asking him about his book and figuring out where he's coming from with his research. Knowing he's an active member of the Church is shouldn't be too difficult to gain his trust.
Some of the questions I plan to ask:
What do you think, based off your research, are the reasons why millennials would choose religion? And why wouldn't they?
If there an event in my generation (generation Y) that marks who we are and how we live? (i.e. technology, social media)?
What have you seen in your studies that encourage teens/young adults to hold on to religion?
Have you seen effective practices in retaining members, specifically millennials?
I believe he will be good source. I hope he can give me other sources outside the Church doing research on the same subject that could give us a non-LDS perspective.
I will hopefully talk to Colleen Carroll Campbell, an author and journalist who has written about faith for a long time. She also wrote a book several years ago about young adults and religion. I think it will help build common ground that we are from a religious university and that we're looking for a variety of perspectives. I can also reference her piece in the New York Times.
ReplyDeleteSome questions I would like to ask are listed as follows:
-How has the relationships between young adults and religion changed since you wrote your book?
-Why do you think millennials are turning away from religion now? What characteristics do they have that lead them away from organized religion?
-What kind of effect is the exodus from churches having on society?
-What kinds of things have you seen churches do to try to retain or regain millennials?
Campbell should have some real insight, as she's written a book about what we're researching. I think questions about what has changed since that book will bring out some good answers, because I'm sure she's been keeping up on what's happening now.
For my first interview I am talking with Ahmad Alsaleem, who is the media correspondent for the Muslim Student Association chapter at the University of Utah. Alsaleem is one source I've contacted for campus religious associations. I plan to interview him on Friday at the U.
ReplyDeleteTo build rapport I have been very respectful in my communications with him, transparent about what we are writing about and I told him why I contacted him.
A couple questions I'm considering asking him include:
Do you struggle to attract millennials in your organization? Why or why not?
How do you retain the millennials you do have in your organization? Is that something you worry about or consider? What methods are most effective?
Have you heard about the PEW research study about millennials and religion? (If yes, launch on, if no, explain it to him)
Have you noticed students at the University of Utah who fall under the "Nones" category? If yes, why do you think they favor spirituality versus organized religions like Islam or Christianity?
Alsaleem will be a great source for campus organizations who are trying to address the issue we are studying. It will also be good to include religions (I feel like in class we often frame things in terms of Christianity and Mormonism because of what we know) because it will build our credibility with our audience for researching this issue thoroughly.
I am hoping to talk to someone in the BYU Religion department about the statistic from Elder Cook's talk saying that the growth of the church is continuing even with people leaving the church and finding out if this is also true of millennials. I don't have a specific name of who I am going to talk to yet because all of the people I have reached out to have referred me to a different professor who knows more about the subject.
ReplyDeleteTo build rapport, when I contact the professors I have mentioned the statistic in Elder Cook's talk to give them an idea of what information I'm looking for and also to show that I have researched the subject myself.
Here are some of the questions I plan to ask:
1. Does the statistic from Elder Cook's talk accurately represent the millennial group as well?
2. How do you think the Church reaches out to millennials?
3. As a BYU professor, you teach millennials. How have you had to change your teaching style for this generation of students?
4. Why do you think millennials are less attracted to religion?
5. What are some actions you think churches should take to retain millennials?
To be honest, I am not sure what questions will be best for the BYU professor because I won't be entirely sure of his knowledge on the subject until I find out which professor I'll be meeting with. There also is a chance that our meeting will simply lead me to find other sources. So for that reason, I think the best question I can ask in the interview is, "Who else do you know who I can talk to about this topic?"