Collaborative Research: Local Government Officials and the Management of Religion-State Relationships

合作研究：地方政府官员与宗教与国家关系的管理

• 批准号: 2148555
• 负责人: Damon Mayrl
• 金额: $ 12.34万
• 依托单位: Colby College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148555&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Local; Government; Officials

The day-to-day management of interaction between religion and government falls to hundreds of thousands of local officials, who are entrusted with decisions that impact all American citizens. This mixed-methods, nationwide study of local officials investigates how local government officials, across diverse communities, understand and manage religion-state relations. This project is designed to help the public understand how local officials can support pluralism and resolve conflicts in local communities. The project produces a public-use dataset and trade book, and it supports the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in science. This project is jointly funded by the Sociology Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This study addresses the interaction of religion and government through a large-scale survey and in-depth interviews with elected officials. The survey is of 2500 local officials, both elected and appointed, asking about their attitudes and actions regarding religion, the state, and interaction between the two. The survey is nationally representative of officials across three forms of government (municipalities, counties, and school districts) and five governance domains (administration, policing, public health, zoning, and education). The project also includes in-depth interviews with 150 local officials sampled from the survey based on their (non)religiosity and local context. The quantitative and qualitative data are merged and analyzed, resulting in a methodological report, a public-use dataset, and research findings. The study provides the first empirical portrait of local officials’ interactions with and preferences about religion, and it examines how those religion-state preferences are patterned by key individual factors (beliefs, affiliations, background) and contexts (region, municipal size, local demography). Ultimately, the research demonstrates how government officials, who often have ample discretion but limited formal guidance when it comes to religion, make decisions about how to navigate and manage religious questions and resolve potential conflicts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

宗教和政府之间互动的日常管理福尔斯落在成千上万的地方官员身上，他们被委托做出影响所有美国公民的决定。这种混合方法，地方官员的全国性研究调查地方政府官员，在不同的社区，理解和管理宗教国家关系。该项目旨在帮助公众了解地方官员如何支持多元化和解决地方社区的冲突。该项目制作了一个公共使用的数据集和贸易书籍，并支持妇女和代表性不足的少数族裔参与科学。 本研究由社会学计划和刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。本研究通过大规模调查和对民选官员的深入访谈，探讨宗教与政府的互动。这项调查涉及2500名地方官员，包括选举产生的和任命的，询问他们对宗教、国家以及两者之间互动的态度和行为。该调查是全国代表性的官员在三种形式的政府（市，县和学区）和五个治理领域（行政，警务，公共卫生，分区和教育）。该项目还包括对150名地方官员的深入访谈，这些官员是根据他们的（非）宗教信仰和当地背景从调查中抽样选出的。定量和定性数据被合并和分析，产生一份方法报告，一个公共使用的数据集和研究结果。该研究提供了地方官员与宗教的互动和偏好的第一个实证画像，并研究了这些宗教国家偏好如何通过关键的个人因素（信仰，从属关系，背景）和背景（地区，市政规模，当地人口）形成模式。最终，研究表明，政府官员，谁往往有足够的自由裁量权，但有限的正式指导，当涉及到宗教，如何导航和管理宗教问题和解决潜在的冲突作出决定。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响力审查标准进行评估的支持。