The New Direction of My Research

After looking carefully at different literature and published research, talking to my professors and student affairs specialists who have actually been "in the field", I finally found my direction for this study. As a result of reviewing academic sources on the topic of stress, I found out that few research dealt with the aspect of religion/spirituality and its affect on college and university students' well-being. Moreover, the research that has been done has many gaps that need to be investigated further. Therefore, I decided to focus my study on religion and spirituality in relation to undergraduate students' well-being.
It should also be noted that there was one more reason for such a dramatic change in the topic of the research. One day I was stressed out because of academic pressure and deadlines, and my roommate offered me to go to the mass with her. She promised that I would fill better after attending it. Interestingly, even though I am not a religious person, I did feel a boost of confidence afterwards. This is what really made a deep impression on me. Later, when I was reflecting on this experience, I realized that it was not the church which helped me calm down and find encouragement, it was the community and the atmosphere of trust. Besides, the church organized a self-reflection activity followed by sharing members of the community which I found to be very powerful. Thus, I became interested in aspects that different students who participate in religious/spiritual activities and organizations might find critical for their confidence and well-being.
Below I provide the revised purpose statement of the study and the research questions.


The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of religious/spiritual undergraduate students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa who engage in religious/spiritual activities or are involved in religious/spiritual organizations. By providing a better insight into religious and spiritual lives of undergraduate students and the role of religious/spiritual services, I seek to legitimize allocation of resources to these organizations as well as encourage campuses to provide more religious support to their students and design spiritual activities aimed at reducing stress levels and boosting students' confidence.

The Research Questions
The study will be focused on the three major clusters of questions that I have created.
What religious/spiritual services and organizations are there? What activities and support do they provide students with?
How do religious/spiritual undergraduate students describe their experiences with religious services/organizations? What do they find critical about these experiences?
How do advisors describe religious/spiritual undergraduate students' experiences within religious services/organizations? What do they find critical about these experiences?