Friday, 14 January 2005 - 10:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Spirituality and Religion

A Qualitative Analysis of Collaboration in Faith-Based Social Service Programs

As faith-based organizations and congregations increasingly participate in social service provision in the United States, a number of questions arise regarding the organizations with which they collaborate, the manner in which they collaborate, and the consequences of their collaborations (see Chaves & Tsitsos, 2001; Wineburg, 2001). This paper describes the findings of a post hoc analysis of a larger emergent design that examined promising practices in 15 diverse faith-based social service programs.

The study employed constant comparison (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Rodwell, 1998) to analyze existing data concerning collaboration from the larger qualitative data set. Data were drawn from a nationwide research project sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The original research was designed according to Strauss and Corbin’s (1998) grounded theory methodology. Researchers in four regions of the U.S. – Southern California, Central Texas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Richmond,Virginia – conducted 65 semi-structured interviews with multiple stakeholders from a purposive sample of 15 programs. Stakeholders included administrative staff, program staff, board members, collaborators, and program participants. Of the programs studied, nine were Protestant, two were Catholic, two were Muslim, one was Jewish and one was interfaith. Nine of the programs were under the auspices of a faith-based 501(c)3 organization and four were housed in congregations. Original data was analyzed using constant comparison and the qualitative software package, Atlas.ti. The current study used Atlas.ti to provide a deeper analysis of one aspect of the original multifaceted data. All data pertaining to collaboration (over 1,300 units) were considered. Findings are both discussed and represented graphically in the paper.

While collaboration takes a variety of forms in the programs analyzed, interorganizational relationships are guided by overarching philosophies of faith and service. In the programs studied, these philosophies are not unrelated. Faith implicitly motivates the service of all the organizations studied and for several organizations, faith explicitly guides the service component. Collaboration provides these faith-based organizations with increased means to provide service to others and God. Program staff, administrative staff, and collaborators described their collaborative relationships as symbiotic, integrated, or autonomous. Symbiotic and integrated relationships shared in the provision of services and the processes of service provision. Symbiotic relationships most often occurred when collaborating organizations share similar religious values. Integrated relationships seemed to occur when organizations shared similar service values. Autonomous relationships did not share in service provision and typically included collaborators used solely for the purpose of funding or referrals. Such relationships did not necessarily require value congruence. Despite the nature of the collaborative relationships, the programs studied indicated that the collaboration enhanced, extended or enabled the services they offered. This study suggests that researchers, practitioners, and policy makers strongly consider the guiding philosophy of the organizations with which they interact and the nature of relationships among faith-based organizations and their collaborating partners. The research also addresses the need for a more nuanced understanding of best practices and continued evaluation of the use of government funds in a collaboration involving a faith-based service provider.

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