Study of Spirituality in America – Structural Topic Modeling

Principal Investigator: Sung Kim

Co-Investigators: Pamela Ebstyne King and Stephanie Trudeau

This project is an extension of the Fetzer Institute’s Study of Spirituality in America.

Applying cutting edge Structural Topic Modeling analysis to the rich qualitative data garnered by the Fetzer Institute’s Study of Spirituality in America, the research team seeks to understand a more nuanced and updated understanding of spirituality inside and outside of conventional religious traditions. Building on our expertise, the study applies the research team’s background in spiritual and religious development, civic engagement, thriving, meaning-making, spiritual coping, and structural topic modeling for further analyses of the interviews and focus groups in order to present findings at academic conferences, publish the study in top tier academic journals (i.e., Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality), and to produce blogs and digital resources for distribution.