Research

06.02.11

Today marked passing out and receiving questionnaire 29.  I’ve come very close (what I perceived as very close) to getting questionnaires into the hands of entire tour-buses, but it seems that the tour guides find ways in which to avoid passing them out (only half our bus is henro, the other tourists therefore it would be inappropriate, etc.).  The real issue seems to be that they do not want to ask their customers to fill out a questionnaire without compensation, and I don’t blame them.  So, as it stands, I’ll likely finish the pilgrimage with just over 30 questionnaires completed.

I’ve had several opportunities to learn a great deal about various perspectives on religion here in Japan, as well as coping and mental health on the henro trail:

1. Expecting those undertaking a 60 day religious pilgrimage to consider themselves religious, I have been very surprised to find very low ratings on the Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI).  I have several theories as to why, but the primary seems to be that the Eastern conceptualization of the word “religion” includes a very narrow Western definition.  That is, being religious is strictly defined as attending church, synagogue, or temple once weekly.  Even though the RCI uses behavioral measures (i.e. I often read books and magazines about my religion), because the definition of religion is narrowly defined, the pilgrims score low.  One pilgrim even mentioned to me that the RCI wasn’t measuring religion at all.
2. A larger issue seems to be that religion is highly integrated into the culture of Japan.  That is, that people don’t see themselves as particularly religious and yet base many of their actions on shingon Buddhism.  For example, they will bless a new car for safety by taking it to the temple, will repeat sutras regularly at night, etc.  In this way, they don’t even see themselves as religious, because to differentiate such actions as separate from their cultural existence would be impossible.
3. I’ve also been introduced to the concept that shikoku pilgrims are a very particular group in Japan.  Obviously they are different because they are religious enough to be willing to engage in such a pilgrimage, yet there is something more.  Most persons on the pilgrimage seem to be engaging in it because they are suffering in some way.  Anecdotally, one hotel owner that houses henro told me that he witnessed a lot of depression in his customers.  In reading over the reasons persons provide for taking the pilgrimage, many times it is to honor a loved one who has passed away, because they have recently become unemployed, because they have no home, or because they are asking for the health of themselves or a friend.  For this reason, it is likely that the henro population has lower psychological well-being than the average citizen.  If this is the case, and the society of Japan is largely collectivist, I wonder if the number of days spent on the pilgrimage might actually correlate with lower psychological well-being.  Given that these persons have chosen to isolate themselves on this pilgrimage, while their religious devotion or spiritual transcendence might increase, I wonder what impacts traveling alone and introspecting might have on these persons.
4. I’ve noticed in the administration of questionnaires that the pilgrims (both those who travel on foot and by car) seem to prefer to have me (as the administrator of the questionnaire) around while they fill it out.  This is opposite of my experience in the U.S., where persons prefer to have privacy while filling out such questions.  I think much of this has to do with the exposure to psychological surveys in the U.S. versus Japan.  Because of our familiarity (and suspicion) with psychological tests, we prefer to be isolated to not feel pressured or exposed.  These persons, however, experienced the questionnaire as an interpersonal process.  Some wanted me to read the questionnaire to them, others read the questionnaire out-loud while I sat.
5. The exposure to therapy and counseling among pilgrims seems to be very low.  Of all 29 questionnaires, I think only 1 person has reported previous counseling experience.  This could be because those who journey on a pilgrimage of this nature are more likely to seek religious (in this case Buddhist self-transcendence) as opposed to social help-seeking coping mechanisms.  I have yet to look at the forbearance coping measure I included in much depth, but I am guessing that forbearance will score highly and seeking social support low.

More thoughts to come as I continue to explore and analyze the data.

05.28.11

If I were to provide highlights of the trip in a completely research-oriented, quantitative fashion, the trip would go much like this:

8 questionnaires completed

So…. more or less the trip has been (while certainly not unproductive nor uneventful) relatively unfavorable to research.  The difficulty has been in first exploring what the best way to distribute questionnaires is.  Along the pilgrimage, one will see very few persons while actually walking.  Those who do walk the route (taking over 60 days on foot) tend to be older Japanese males.  These persons are both willing and (fairly) able to complete the questionnaire.  By approaching persons on foot, however, because they are busy actually completing the pilgrimage, I’ve only been able to spend the 25-30 minutes it takes for a single questionnaire with 3 people.

The other 5 have been through distributing questionnaires through Eric and Dave at the minshuku (cheap lodging) during dinner.  In this way the Henro are able to read the informed consent at dinner, take the questionnaire to their room, and return it in the morning.  This is also difficult, however, because there are not always other henro at the minshuku (minshuku are usually a spare room or two in someone’s home) and because I am not staying at the lodging to ensure everything goes according to IRB (in particular the debriefing should be explained).

Thus, what I have now placed my hope in is the possibility of collecting questionnaires through persons completing the pilgrimage by bus.  There are often 30 or more individuals who will ride a single bus together, stopping at each temple just long enough to complete several rituals.  After speaking with the ryokyogaisha (tour guide), I found that, while it might be difficult timewise for the pilgrims to fill out the questionnaire at the temple, it would be not so difficult for me to explain the questionnaire to the group on the bus, have them complete it while travelling, and then have them drop it off at the next temple for me to pick up.  If I could have the tour guide distribute the debriefing after everyone completes the questionnaire, this it would be an amazing way to collect data fast.  Because of the rate at which I’ve been able to collect data on foot, I’m hedging my bets on this idea.

At first I was very worried that the tour guides would be opposed to this, especially since the travelers are paying for the tour.  But the tour guide seemed quite welcoming, recommending several ideas (including possibly faxing the questionnaires).  If I could do even just two busloads in the next week, my research will be complete.

The people who travel by bus are quite a bit different than those who travel on foot.  But because of the nature of my research (evaluating religiosity in the context of coping with the earthquake) it actually makes more sense to collect data from these persons.  Because spirituality still plays a role in their life (they are completing a Buddhist pilgrimage), but are from more diverse areas (those on foot are usually from Shikoku), they are more likely to be directly impacted by the earthquake themselves or through friends/family.  In this way I can get more variability in the range of traumatic experiences surrounding the earthquake to make sense of the data collected on coping.

I’ll continue to update this research section as time permits.  Hopefully my next update will be 100 questionnaires!