Original Research

The Mormon Church has a history of othering and marginalizing groups of people, as highlighted in my page on Understanding the Issues, where I discuss how the church has perpetuated white supremacy and xenophobia. The Church also has a history of marginalizing people based on their gender, sexuality, marital status, and political views. I explored some of these issues in my original research, which consists of a survey of 115 individuals, interviews of 19, and two focus groups of three people each. I found participants through ex-Mormon Facebook groups and by word of mouth. Individuals were invited to complete a survey and then indicate if they would be like to be interviewed. I selected interview participants by analyzing data from the survey and creating a numbered ranking system on answers that felt most useful to explore further in interviews. I then invited individuals with highest numbered rankings to be interviewed, and 19 responded. Following interviews, I invited all interview participants to participate in focus groups. Six people agreed to participate and were divided into two focus groups of three people each. Participants were not required to answer all questions and could choose to end their participation at any time. Therefore, there are some questions that do not have as many answers as others. The entire data collection process ran from October 28, 2021 until March 15, 2022.

The data compiled is extensive, and cannot be covered in its entirety here. I am releasing some of my findings for the purposes of my Capstone, which can be found by visiting the links below. I plan to publish more of my findings in the future. Please watch this site for more information coming soon.