by Donald Ratcliff
I believe that a theistic world view offers the best and only adequate reference point for truth. I wrote a perspectives of education paper that summarizes some of my ideals in teaching.
Speaking Engagements
I enjoy making presentations at conferences, churches, and for other groups. Here are a few of the presentations:
"ChildFaith: How Churches Can Encourage Family Faith Formation," given at the third Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian Perspectives, River Forest, IL, June 15, 2009. Click here for mp3 recording.
"A Century of Children's Spirituality Research, The Price-LeBar Chair in Christian Education Inaugural Lecture, given at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, February 6, 2008.
“Déjà vu all over again: Trends in Christian education today and 100 years ago” at the North American Professors of Christian Education annual conference, San Jose , California , October, 2007.
"The Spiritual Nurture of Young Children" and "A history of the study of children's spirituality and religion," the 2006-7 Latham Lecture and Seminar on the Church's Ministry to Early Childhood, Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri, April, 2007.
"Sociology and Christian Education," at the North American Professors of Christian Education annual conference, Denver, Colorado, October, 2006.
"The history of children's spiritual development: Research in religion, spirituality, and theology," at the second Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian Perspectives, River Forest, Illinois, June, 2006. [I was on the planning team for this conference.]
"A long and short history of children's spiritual development," at the North American Professors of Christian Education annual conference, Rochester, Minnesota, October, 2005.
"The spiritual development of children," at the Wilson Institute for Pentecostal Studies, Costa Mesa, California, October, 2005.
"Numinous research with children: Topic and method," at the North American Professors of Christian Education annual conference, Boston, Massachusetts, October, 2003.
"Roundtable on children's spirituality research methods," at the first Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian Perspectives, River Forest, Illinois, June, 2003. [I was on the planning team for this conference]
"Numinous research with children: Topic and method," at the first Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian Perspectives, River Forest, Illinois, June, 2003.
"Children's spiritual development," at the Association of Christian Schools International regional conference, Anaheim, California, November, 2002.
"Qualitative research in Christian education," primary presenter with Ted Ward, at the North American Professors of Christian Education annual conference, San Diego, California, October, 2002.
"Rituals in a school hallway: Evidence of a latent spirituality of children,” at the Annual Conference on Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies, Athens, Georgia, January, 2001. This was later elaborated into an ERIC document.
Guest speaker for a session titled “Emergent spirituality in elementary-aged children” for a graduate level course in psychology of religion at the Psychological Studies Institute, Atlanta, Georgia, January, 2001.
Presented papers titled "Ceremony and Ritual in a School Hallway," and "Child-Assisted Data Analysis in Children's Spirituality Research," First International Conference on Children's Spirituality, University College Chichester, West Sussex, UK, July, 2000.
Conducted a one week course titled "Research on Children's Spiritual Development" and faculty development sessions related to qualitative research at Talbot Theological Seminary of Biola University, La Mirada, CA, June, 2000.
"Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology," presented to the clinical psychology graduate faculty and students at Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, October 15, 1999.
Contributed regularly on issues related to research methodology in a think tank for an ongoing study of children in worship, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Children's Ethical Development, Concordia University, River Forest, IL, October 13-15, 1999.
"Every Teacher a Research Director," faculty development session, Concordia University, River Forest, IL, October 14, 1999.
"Qualitative Research Methods in Religious Education," faculty development session at the School of Educational Ministries of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX, April 23-24, 1999. This workshop was followed by a session with doctoral faculty on guidelines for proposing and evaluating qualitative research. In addition I provided extensive consultation on a qualitative research proposal related to Russian-American church cross-cultural understanding and cooperative efforts, and presented an overview of qualitative methodology for graduate students. [Video of the student session is available online: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4].
"Peer Culture and School Culture Theory: Implications for Educational Ministry with Children" (with appendage on children's spiritual experience), North American Professors of Christian Education annual conference, Nashville, TN, October, 1998.
"Qualitative Research Methods," [Audio available online: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4] a four-hour pre-conference session at the international convention of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS), Chattanooga, TN, March, 1998. Audio recordings of these sessions are available online by clicking on the title above. I included a paper titled "The Beginnings of a Christian Perspective on Qualitative Research" during that session. I've been a member of CAPS for fifteen years.
"Conducting Research with Children: Methods and Potential Applications in Educational Ministry Contexts" presented at the North American Professors of Christian Education (NAPCE) annual conference, Fort Mills, SC, October, 1997.
"Proverbs 1-9 and Methods of Research," presented at the annual conference of the American Scientific Affiliation, Toronto, Canada, July, 1996.
"Using the Bible in Introductory Sociology at Student Initiative," presented at the annual conference of the Association of Christians Teaching Sociology (ACTS), Rome, GA, June 8, 1996.
"An Elementary School Hallway: A Ritual Highway," presented at the annual conference of the Qualitative Research in Education Interest Group (QUIG), Athens, GA, January, 1995.
"The Sociology of Religious Compassion," presented at a seminar sponsored by The University of Alabama, Birmingham, 1990, and later published as a chapter of a book that developed out of the conference.
Unpublished Papers
I did my doctoral work at The University of Georgia in educational psychology. My dissertation research emphasized peer and school cultures as expressed in the social formations of children in an elementary school. As part of my coursework and in preparation for my research, I wrote a number of detailed reports on various topics. They include:
Qualitative Data Analysis Using Analytic Induction
Concepts, Cognitive Development, and Assessment
Children's Temperament Research
Transitions in Elementary Schools Throughout the Day
Qualitative Research Design in Studies of School Transitions
Research on Queuing in Line (Lining Up)
George Herbert Mead's Theory and Children's Play
Here are some papers I wrote many years ago when I taught a seminar on Western Thought and Culture, a class that emphasized Francis Schaeffer's work. I appreciate many of his ideas, but see his work as an exploratory beginning to a much larger quest for a faith-based locus of integration for all of life and learning. I see Alister McGrath's work as a continuation of that quest.
Francis Schaeffer and B. F. Skinner pdf version
Francis Schaeffer and Rock Music
Schaeffer's Priorities for Christians
Finally, here are some miscellaneous writings of mine, some written at a popular level and others at a more professional level.
Sociology and Christian Education
Family as Central to Faith Formation
Four Methods of Encouraging Children's Spirituality
Ten Rats in the Church
"His Truth Shall Make You Free." A survey of history--an unpublished manuscript by Edward Coleson. I really appreciate some of Ed Coleson's perspectives, which he summarized in several unpublished books and quite a few published artciels. This is a summary of his ideas, often using his words (with his permission, of course). I think his ideas deserve careful study, but I also realize they depart considerably from the mainstream of thought in the academic discipline of history. This represents his scholarship, not mine. Someone should write a dissertation on his interesting and rather unique approach to history. Introduction Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten
Children's Spirituality Database
History of Mount Olivet Camp in Hinton, West Virginia (1990).
Notes from a course I taught in children's ministries at Toccoa Falls College in the 1990's.
Notes from a course I taught in Western thought and culture at Toccoa Falls College in the 1990's
Notes from a course in the psychology of the family, taught at Vanguard University, 2005-2006, and in a somewhat different form at Toccoa Falls College in the 1990's.
Notes from a course in educational research, taught at Biola University, 2001-2004.
Notes from a course in educational psychology, taught at Biola University, 2001-2004.
Qualitative Research: A Five-part Seminar (notes, audio files, video)
The Beginnings of a Christian Perspective on Qualitative Research
Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research
Four Varieties of Notes
Logging Data
Validity and Reliability in Qualitative Research
Initial Analysis
Varieties of Formal Analysis
15 Varieties of Formal Data Analysis in Qualitative Research
18 Guidelines for Evaluating a Qualitative Research Study (Lingenfelter & Ratcliff)
Detailed Description of the Twelve Components and Five Attributes (exploratory)
(form related to the twelve components and five attributes)
Important Issues to Address in a Qualitative Research Proposal
Video and audio media in qualitative research (unpublished manuscript, 1996/2004).
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