research questions

Right now, I have an idea that my dissertation will be about adolescent spirituality and/or religiosity. Here are some questions I am thinking about:

1. Are there differences in adolescent spirituality/religiosity among Hispanic adolescents, Caucasian adolescents, and African-American adolescents?

2. Are there differences in adolescent spirituality/religiosity if one compares at-risk adolescents to non at-risk adolescents?

Some studies have been done on both of the above questions, so I will have to find a way to contribute to the existing literature. I'm reading some pretty interesting articles in preparation for my dissertation proposal which is mostly a literature review. I am running into some roadblocks. First the constructs of spirituality and religiosity are extremely hard to define. The literature has different and sometimes conflicting definitions. Due to the vagueness or abstract nature of these phenomena, I then question whether they can truly be measured quantitatively. Also, I have read one article that warns against grouping culture/race as simply as I did in the first of the two questions. Anyway, that's what I'm working on right now.

On to more fun things...

The weekend was great. I spent time with friends in Temple and in Abilene. Once again I was reminded that I am blessed with high-caliber people in my life. I smiled a lot this weekend.

Thanks for reading.