ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the iterative development of the research design has been presented. Each of the three aspects, viz. religious commitments, identity development, and family life experiences, was seen as a highly personalised process that necessitated building up of an in-depth understanding of the lives of the participants. The personal experiential trajectory of the lives of each of the individuals was explored through a life story approach, respecting their context, uniqueness and subjectivity.
In selecting the twelve participants, care was taken to ensure a heterogeneous representation in terms of age, gender, religious background and inter-religious mix. The final sample had representation of Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Jain, Buddhist and Parsi participants. The life stories were developed through informal interviews and semi projective tasks that were woven into the interactions. In addition, significant others in the lives of participants were also interviewed. The chapter also details out the ethical dilemmas and processes undertaken for ensuring validity of the data collected.
