Latter-day Saint Courtship Patterns edited by Mary Jane Woodger

Latter-day Saint Courtship Patterns is part of Studies in Religion and the Social Order, which is edited by Jacob Neusner. Many interesting tidbits gleaned from the data would make fun discussion topics (only 22% of BYU men and 29% of BYU women expect that a “spiritual confirmation” will help them know when they have found the person they should marry; 60% of BYU freshman think it is wrong to kiss on the first date while only 20% of older students thought the same). But it is hard to overlook the major flaw of the book: every study which included information about its survery population indicated that the participants were all BYU students (or high school students from the Orem and Springville areas). For those studies where the institutional affiliation(s) of its participants were not mentioned, every indication is that they also were BYU students. (One of the folklore essays did indicate that one-third of its participants were from outside of the “Mormon belt.”) So the book is, I think, improperly titled: it isn’t about LDS courtship patterns or even American LDS courtship patterns, but rather about the courtship patterns of BYU students. I’m guessing those aren’t coterminous groups. Not only do I have philosophical objections to letting BYU culture stand proxy for the Church, but a non-LDS researcher who approaches this work will be left with the impression that “creative dating” is a Mormon thing, not a Jell-o Belt thing. And while I’m not a sociologist, some of the research methodology seemed suspect to me, such as comparing the opinions of BYU students to a national sample of high school students. Similarly, a few studies used ‘grounded theory,’ which not only seems to have the potential to find nothing other than what the researcher wanted to find, but in the case of the essay on females in relationships seems (based on the quotations provided, which don’t support the hypothesis) to do just that. It is hard to take seriously conclusions based on interviews with only fifteen different subjects or a four-page piece on wedding receptions. I find sociological research on the Church and its members fascinating and hope that this book will pave the way for more work in the field–work that has larger, more diverse samples and more rigorous methodology.