My current primary research project is the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., the NSYR is investigating the religious and spiritual practices and commitments of contemporary U.S. adolescents. The role of religion in shaping the lives of American youth has been inadequately understood and appreciated by many of the people and communities who work with youth. This project is employing a mix of survey and interview methods to examine the influences of religious commitments and practices in shaping the social, moral, and spiritual lives and outcomes of youth. It is designed to provide the first nationally-representative, broad, descriptive mapping of the religious beliefs, commitments, and practices of U.S. youth.

I am also currently leading the "Multiple Modernities" Project.  This collaborative project is exploring and developing through working groups, seminars, and focused research projects the theoretical idea of multiple modernities—particularly, though not exclusively, as it relates to religious and moral life—around the world. Multiple modernities provides a theoretical and analytical framework for understanding cultural and institutional social change at the global, national, and sub-cultural levels that represents an alternative to both traditional modernization and secularization theories as well as to the theory of post-modernism.

Another project in which I am also currently involved is the Religious Financial and Charitable Giving Project.  This project is conducting secondary analyses of survey data and primary data collection through personal interviews to better understand patterns and dynamics of religious and charitable giving in the U.S., particularly among American Christians.