Our first symposium
‘What is the collective noun for a group of folklorists?’ asked one of the guests to our first project symposium.
‘A curse?’ I offered. We all laughed, but I did have some concerns about what the day would bring: the project had only begun in earnest two months earlier and here we were, presenting a first draft of the survey to a room full of people I regularly read and cite.
But I needn’t have worried.
All images copyright Andrew Robinson, 2025.
The scene setting at the start of the day helped generate questions and smooth out concerns about the survey approach. In particular, Dr David Clarke’s brief presentation on the previous attempts at similar surveys demonstrated a clear trajectory for how he arrived at the aims and objectives, scope, and thematic requirements of this new survey. Professor Chris Bader from Chapman University, USA, illustrated how a successful survey should be designed, as a result of his considerable experience at running similar surveys, most recently to interrogate paranormal belief in the UK, which informed his forthcoming book on the topic.
Then it was time to set our participants, project partners from across the country, to work. We divided the participants into groups at random and asked each group to review one section of the survey an hour at a time, feeding back to the room at the end of each hour. We asked them to do this three times in total. At the end of the day, we provided participants the first full draft for context and also to enable further feedback beyond the close of the symposium.
The insight offered by our participants was phenomenal. Individuals and groups considered content and theme, offering alternatives and providing sources, and tested our questions and answer models, all with good humour and common sense. And since the symposium, our partners have continued mulling over some of the bigger, philosophical questions, and returning to us with yet more valuable knowledge.
We would like to thank all our participants for the generosity, warmth, and encouragement they have showed us and the project. Our next task is to take this insight and work together to produce draft two, which will go out to focus groups in the next two months. Wish us luck!
Sophie Parkes-Nield