Stereotypes, like bias, are another social phenomenon that fuel the 'isms. Every culture has stereotypes. If you think about it, you can probably come up with some stereotypes right now that exist for some of your cultural identities.

Part of understanding stereotypes more deeply requires us to answer questions like "how are stereotypes formed?" "what attitudes, beliefs, or experiences maintain stereotypes?" and "how are stereotypes changed?" That is where research comes in. Unfortunately, it is hard to research a topic when research participants do not want to admit that they hold stereotypes, let alone use them to make life decisions.

In this discussion, you will discuss stereotypes that specifically relate to the culture of religion. You will also create a research study that investigates those stereotypes within the religious culture of your choosing. Finally, you will evaluate how cultural and research biases will impact your study.

Instructions

For your initial post to this discussion:

Identify two stereotypes about a specific religion or faith.

Compare and contrast the stereotypes and their effects on the subjects of the stereotypes.

Next, describe a design for a research study related to your specialization that investigates an issue related to a stereotype or is counter to a stereotype. You can investigate anything related to the faith and religion, and stereotypes. For example, if you were a chemical dependency counselor, you might investigate alcoholism in Jewish Americans.

Explain, briefly, what your research study plans to investigate and why this is important.

Articulate the cultural biases that may surface in your research and how you will manage or avoid them.

Explain how will you recruit participants.

Discern the types of research biases you will want to avoid in the study.

Your initial discussion post should be at least 200 words.