The GIRT Method(ology)

The project relies on multi-sited ethnography, in combination with a survey and interviews, to ascertain the intricacies of Ghanaian immigrants’ religious transnationalism. So far, a comprehensive individual survey has been conducted among the members of the four selected congregations [SDA Church, the Church of Pentecost, All Nations Full Gospel Church (ANFG), and The Ghana Methodist Church], after seeking the cooperation of the church leaderships and after introducing the GIRT project and its research team to the congregations. In all, some 200 individuals were interviewed in the four churches. The sample size ranged from a low of 40 from the SDA Church through 50 each from the Methodist Church and Church of Pentecost, to a high of 60 respondents from the ANFG church. The variation in sample size reflected our exploratory assessment of the differences in size, ethnicity, and socio-economic backgrounds of the four congregations. With the permission of the churches’ leadership, the Research Assistants(s) distributed the individual questionnaire during one of their weekly services in a quasi-random manner, to ensure a more or less even distribution across the congregation. Efforts were made, to the extent possible, to enhance the diversity of respondents in the sample while at the same time capturing more of those who were first-generation immigrants and, consequently, more likely to be involved in transnational religious practices. All prospective respondents had the option of either filling out the questionnaire on their own and returning them on a pre-agreed time, or being interviewed face-to-face by a Research Assistant, with the aid of an interpreter if need be, as all the questionnaires were printed in English. The face-to-face interviews were conducted in wide a range of locations—such as respondents’ places of residence or work, cafés, or in the church premise—to alleviate some of the pressures on respondents’ time and, thus, facilitate their participation in the project.

Moreover, we conducted in-depth interviews with eight respondents (two from each of the four congregations), identified through the individual survey not only to have deep knowledge of their church, in particular, and the Ghanaian religious community, in general, but also to be engaged in religious transnationalism themselves. These interviews were semi-structured and done with the help of an interview guide to direct the deliberations. The themes covered by these interviews were quite similar to those of the individual survey, but the intent here was to be more interactive, comprehensive, and in-depth about respondents’ own involvements in their respective church and in transnational religion practices. As with the individual survey, these interviews were conducted in multiple locations to enhance scheduling flexibility. The in-depth interviews, most of which lasted about two hours, were tape-recorded for subsequent transcription. Additionally, an institutional questionnaire, soliciting information of the foundation, the size of congregation, social services, worship practices, sources of funding, etc. was administered to each of the four churches in our sample. In a true spirit of multi-sited ethnography and mixed methods approach, the principal investigator conducted a fieldwork in Ghana, during the Spring/Summer of 2006, following the leads obtained from the institutional and individual surveys in the Toronto theatre.