Conclusion: what can we learn?

This chapter recalls the intriguing set of interviews with twentieth-century social researchers that are available for further reading, listening to and scrutiny. It examines how empirical social research was conducted and given shape in mid-twentieth-century Britain. The chapter aims to put on record the fascinating stories of some earlier creative researchers working in intriguing new ways before they become forgotten. The chapter also seeks to understand better how research happens in practice and to bring together a wider account of how social research was starting to emerge, the puzzles it faced, the institutions it was building. History, and even more sociology, always speaks to a wider story than a single life can hope to achieve. In that sense, the chapter demonstrates some of the very problems our researchers discuss. Ultimately, the chapter analyzes the emergence of a very grounded theory and account of the creative research practice. It then demonstrates the research methods and the elements of the research's fuller account.

The Origin and Nature of Religion: A Critical Realist View

There are few social scientists who have done as much scholarly research on religion as Christian Smith. Over the past three decades, he has interviewed hundreds of people, fielded numerous surveys, and written dozens of books. And in recent years, he has pushed beyond the boundaries of empirical social research into the neighboring domains of social theory, philosophy, and theology. Anyone who studies or cares about religion will want to know what he has to say about it.