The Impacts of Technological Innovations

The Impacts of Technological Innovations in the Delivery of Religious Content

Introduction

Engaging religion through technological innovations is a fact whose support is not popular in the eyes of the majority of religious ministers. Creativity in worship is a sure way of improving the experience, which is the primary objective of the religious formations of the world. The use of technology, innovations, and research is often associated with globalization, and economic developments focused majorly on trade and its supporting infrastructure. Similarly, majority of the technological prototypes have been developed to fit into the corporate business setup or to simulate ideologies associated with global trade, social interactions, and environmental protectionism approaches. Technology within the religious society suffers a deficiency despite its potential in increasing experience and mobilization of new members. Therefore, this research proposal seeks to analyze the impacts of technology in the religious formations, its consumption levels, and the extent to which its uptake can reduce the growing secularization of the society as it increases the experience of religion management.

Aims and Objectives

The main aim of the research is to ascertain the extent technology and innovation is used in the religious formations and the extent to which its uptake can reduce the growing secularization of the society

Objectives

The research is premised in the attainment of objectives below which form the basis of its investigation.

1. To ascertain the extent to which technology influences the uptake of religious teaching and ideologies.
2. To determine the type and nature of technology and innovations relevant to the religious setup and the infrastructural requirements of such systems.

• To ascertain the systemic preparedness and capacity of the religious societies and their absorption capacity or limitations.

Background of Study

Technology and innovation are the modern day drivers that facilitate the attainment of milestones set in the corporate sector of the world economy. Technology can be defined as the emergent models that have led to the change of mindset from employing the conventional methods, expecting different results to the use of contemporary scientific methods powered through innovations (Jones, 2017). Religious affiliation to modern technological enhancements and innovations is matter of notable absence in majority of churches, mosques, and synagogues among the other several places of worship (Goldstone, 2016). Worth noting is that religious association as an organization that support ideologies and principles based on socio-cultural formations and beliefs have in the recent years experienced a mass walkout of young and dynamic members (Bi, 2017). In fact, this has been necessitated by monotony and conventional methods of managing theory activities.

Even though the relevance of religious practices in delivering ethical principles is not in question, Cutié (2016) explains that the traditional content delivery methods fashioned in repetitive processes and long sermons or teachings has lost the appeal and drive to the modern technological person who is their main target.  The uptake of technology in churches should be improved similarly to those in the business sector to take care of the modern technological enhancements like virtual realities that improve customer experiences to products and services (Wiltshire & Clarke, 2017). The paper, therefore, seeks to address the technological gaps in the religious formations leading to limited secularizations and hence encourage innovations capable of enhancing the religious experience and minister interactions to the wider population.

Statement of the Research Problem

Majority of religious formations have intensified their outreach mechanism over the last decade in utter disregard to the interests of their targeted audience. Secular practices have been on the increase despite the attempts to ensure the ideologies and teachings of the religious formations reach the followers. Important to note has been the absence of technology in the religious setup. Whereas several corporates have implemented superior and most current technological innovations to appeal to feelings and the social fabric of their targeted customers when making purchasing decisions for products or service, similar approaches are yet to be used on the religious platform. The world is going secular, atheism is fast taking over the place of religious beliefs and practices, yet religious leaders have continued to employ conventional models of interactions and management of content delivered to the followers. It is necessary that a different approach is used to appeal to the emotional and consumption decisions into the religious ideologies and practices in order to manage the current secularization trends witnessed.

Research Questions

1. What is position of religion of technological innovations for content delivery like 3/4D simulations and augmented virtual realities?
2. What is the level of technological innovation accepted in the area of worship and what are its impacts?

• What is the infrastructural preparedness from the uptake of technology and the innovation witnessed through global platform for ICT and content?

Literature Review

Religious organizations are enshrined in dogmatic beliefs and practices defined by their principles and practices. They are very traditional in the religious beliefs and practices that they view technological innovations within religion frameworks with sarcasm. Technology and innovations have changed the world (Adams et al., 2016). Modern marketing principles and innovations have the potential to persuade and change the mindset of a targeted audience. Therefore, technology changes the trajectory on which the mindset is formed and encourages the emotional connections to products and services marketed with riders of innovations. Emerging technologies like augmented virtual realities have the potential to improve consumer experiences and support decision-making systems (Yim, Chu, & Sauer, 2017). In fact, the 3D and 4D simulations have been used to deliver consumer content effectively to attain higher results within the business format.

There is a hidden reality that is yet to be accepted and unveiled in the religious formations. The fact is that religious formations have similar objectives, obligations, and targets with the business setup of the world (Rudolph, 2018). The two are among several other technological approaches that have been used in the business set up to influence new customers while building allegiance of the traditional ones within the organization. Rao (2016) explains that the use of technology and emerging innovations have the potential to yield a higher rate of new followers while retaining the conventional one due to the enhanced experiences they come with. Palmer and Jammes (2014) explain that innovation is redemptive. The authors further explain that the scripture and the personal experience of Christians over the world indicate that God uses innovations and technology so that human beings will know Him better, communicate with Him while accomplishing His earthly designs for all humanity. Indeed, this position is supported by Joshi (2018) who asserts that Christian innovations is one that has an ultimate alignment to the purpose and methods of God and intended to attain the objectives of the Gospel.

Accordingly, by employing emergent technology like augmented virtual realities and 3D or 4D simulation purposed to improve the experience of the gospel while bringing to a virtual reality to the teachings of a religious grouping qualifies into the argument fronted by Churchill (2017) and Ankomah and Larson (2018). According to Norman (2014), technology is not a means of salvation, but a potential system of deception employing incredible power on the computer to super dictate and control humanity. However, even though the argument has some factual basis, the focus of technology in the context of this study is technology as used on the basis of delivering content and improving the experience of the sacred scripture.

Methodology

The research will use the approach of epistemology to test the relationship between the two variables compared to each other (Punch, 2005). The epistemology employed in the research will take into consideration the intuitive knowledge like dogmas and beliefs existing within the various religious units. In this case, this belief will be tested against the authoritative professional literature that has been tested and published. The findings will then be logically reviewed through reasoning and understanding before they are empirically analyzed and published. The research will, therefore, employ both primary and secondary methods of data collections. The research will investigate through secondary data existing in several peer-reviewed journals and other literature to make a solid viewpoint linking technological innovations in the religious practices and content delivery models (Robson, 2002). To ensure that data is collected for the primary research findings, the study will employ the use of interviews to test on an identified respondent base. The research data will be collected using the secondary literature reviews, or publications and the primary data collection on the questionnaires and interviews.

Recruitment

Population and Sampling. The research will involve a wider spectrum with regards to the populations of the study. The scope of populations will be spread within various religious opinions from ministers, to the faithful, and management elders. The research will, however, concentrate on the mainstream religious formations that are easily accessible like mainstream churches, mosques, and synagogues.

The sampling sizes of the population demography for the research shall be done randomly controlled frameworks. From the random, a total of 100 respondents divided between the mainstream religious formations like mainstream churches, mosques, and synagogues will be used to test the research. A total of 25% respondents shall be ministers, including pastors, priests, rabbi, and imams. Church elders and another similar grouping will form 20% of the respondents while 35% respondents will be divided between the ordinary faithful of the religious groupings. The research will endeavor to widen the scope of respondents to include 5% of technology experts and content developers with an additional 15% of secular and non-worshipers. Stratified sampling methods as a statistical tool will be used to determine a stratum within the sampled population demography used in the study

The Questionnaire, Interview Guide, and Pre-testing. Questionnaire and discussions from interviews are used as the main tool for collecting primary data (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). Therefore, to ensure information received from the questionnaire is credible and has an easy flow for better interpretations of the final results, it shall be segmented into independent sections with each section handling a separate item. The first unit will be organized to carry personal bio-data information, and the other part will have questions unique to the study.  The primary sections will seek to understand the social affiliations of the respondents, including aspects of education levels, social status, beliefs, and ideologies. In addition, issues with preparedness to administer the questionnaire will be on the first section. The succeeding sections will handle issues in furtherance of the research objectives and directly touching the main investigations of the paper. The inclusivity of the questionnaire will equally be tested through a pre-test system involving a few identified respondents. This is projected to ensure a systematic flow is attained and any matter overlooked, overemphasized, and left out would be added to the questionnaire at this point.

Data Analysis

The research shall use statistical analysis methods to analyze the data received due to its ability to analyze the data into smaller units of charts and graphs (Bryman and Bell). The qualitative and quantitative data from the literature review and the primary research data forms the basis of the research and will be analyzed together (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, & Jackson, 2008). Given that the researcher seeks to ensure all the questionnaires used in the interviews are received, they shall be identified in correspondence to the number respondents. Upon the competition of the survey and interviews, the questionnaires received will be cleaned to eliminate systematic errors before the final report presentation is done. Indeed, such errors may occur when the respondents write their name instead of signing or interchanging other aspects on the biodata sections. The study will, however, endeavor not to change or make any adjustments to the second sections.  In addition, the data will be coded and analyzed using statistical applications used in data analysis. The statistical data used will be manipulated to provide the data in various forms, including charts, graphs, and percentage to provide a concise presentation of the facts and figures presented by the study.  According to Silverman (2010), descriptive models of analyzing data provide a clearer perspective of the research findings. Therefore, the study shall endeavor to apply the descriptive models into the presentations of the research finding through the formats of charts and frequencies among the other formats.

Research Schedule/Timetable

Managing Ethical Issues

Every research experiences a level of ethical issues that can jeopardize the findings of the research (Oliver, 2010). According to Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight (2011), the management of ethical issues during research ensures a systematic flow of research and avoids challenges with respondents on issues like compensations or financial entitlements. Worth noting is that this position is also supported by Costley, Elliott, & Gibbs (2010). The study will utilize the principles of consent to manage ethical issues of the research. Therefore, simple terms of engagement (TOE) will be developed. All persons involved in the study either directly or indirectly will be engaged through a consent taking process based on the developed TOE. The study shall, therefore, be exonerated from aspects of obligatory sharing of official findings of the study with the respondents or other stakeholders except as would be advised by the TOE.

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