No. 55 - Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, Solange Lefebvre, Gladys Ganiel: The Changing Role of Religion in Societies Emerging from Covid-19. Research Project Methodology.

This working paper presents the comprehensive methodological framework of a transnational research project examining the changing role of religion in societies emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study compares four contexts—Canada, Germany, Ireland/Northern Ireland, and Poland. The research employs a mixed-methods approach organized around three core areas: discourses about health, illness, and science; relationships with governments and policymakers; and digital innovations. Within each context, researchers analyzed two majority religious groups (typically Roman Catholic and Protestant churches) and one to two minority groups (including Islam, Judaism, Orthodox Christianity, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Humanism, and the Anthroposophical Society). The methodology integrated four complementary approaches: (1) qualitative content analysis of official public documents; (2) analysis of religious media articles; (3) online questionnaires distributed to religious leaders and members; and (4) episodic interviews across all contexts. All qualitative data were analyzed using a unified deductive coding system developed from the three core research areas, ensuring comparability across different languages, religious traditions, and document types. This methodological framework enabled systematic comparison at three levels: between majority and minority religious groups, across different national contexts, and among varying theological and social positions. The design balances standardized comparative analysis with context-specific insights, addressing both official institutional positions and individual member perspectives. This paper provides detailed documentation of sampling procedures, data collection instruments, coding systems, and analytical approaches to support transparent and replicable research on religion’s evolving societal role during global crises.

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About the authors:

Kerstin Radde-Antweiler

Kerstin Radde-Antweiler is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Bremen, field of work “Literatures and Media of Religion”. At the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Sciences (ZeMKI) she is head of the Lab “Media and Religion”. Her research focuses on religion in times of deep mediatization, Ritual Studies (ritual transfer, ritual design), actor perspective religion history, and recent religions.

Solange Lefebvre

Solange Lefebvre, a professor in the Institute for Religious Studies at the University of Montreal, Canada, holds the Research Chair on Cultural and Religious Diversity and is co-holder of the Quebec-France Chair on Freedom of Expression. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she has published over 140 articles and book chapters, 20 monographs and edited volumes, and nearly 20 special journal issues. Regularly consulted by governments, the media, and public and private organizations, her most recent research projects focus on pluralism and chaplaincies in Quebec’s provincial correctional facilities, radicalization leading to violence and the media, religious diversity and non-religious individuals, and municipalities and religious diversity.

Gladys Ganiel

Gladys Ganiel is Professor in the Sociology of Religion at Queen’s University Belfast. She is author of six books and her articles have appeared in Religion, State and Society; Sociology Compass; The Review of Faith and International Affairs, and Sociology of Religion. Her Oxford University Press book, The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity, co-authored with Gerardo Marti, was winner of the 2015 Distinguished Book Award of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. She is co-editor, with Andrew J. Holmes, of The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland (2024).

Among the team’s publications, the following one offers national and comparative systematic results: Journal of Religion in Europe 19 (2026) [Free Access]