Ramadan ESM Project
Does Ramadan Serve as a Naturalistic Intervention to Promote Muslim American Adolescents’ Daily Virtues? Evidence from a Three Wave Experience Sampling Study
Project Overview:
This study is a natural quasi-experiment to examine the development of religiosity and virtues among Muslim American adolescents before, during, and after Ramadan using online surveys and experience sampling surveys. We wanted to examine whether Ramadan heightens Muslim American adolescents’ connectedness to Allah, self-control, patience, compassion, gratitude, shame and guilt. We used experience sampling surveys prior to, during, and after Ramadan to capture daily nuances in adolescents’ religiosity and underlying processes that foster their daily virtues. Rather than capturing behavior or feelings retroactively over a vast period of time (e.g., “Think about how you have felt over the past year”), ESM methods allow us to capture behaviors and feelings during normal daily life, as they are happening in real time – what’s called “situational.” This method also allows us to understand how people change compared to themselves, rather than to the rest of the study sample. This study is the first to provide systematic quantitative investigation regarding the effects of Ramadan on the within-person changes in daily virtues of Muslim American adolescents before, during, and after Ramadan.
Meet the Team:
This project was a collaboration between Drs. Sarah Schnitker and Merve Balkaya-Ince (Research Lead) at Baylor University, Dr. Madiha Tahseen of The FYI, and Dr. Osman Umarji.

Dr. Sarah Schnitker

Dr. Merve Balkaya-Ince

Dr. Madiha Tahseen

Dr. Osman Umarji
Publications and Presentations
Resources
Check out these resources which help you apply the research findings into your daily lives!
Toolkits

Ramadan Toolkit
The Family and Youth Institute has prepared this toolkit with practical tips to nourish your spirituality and well-being this Ramadan....
Podcasts

Episode 1: Growing Patient in Ramadan
About the Episode Ramadan, patience, self control, compassion – how are these words related to one another? While we wrestle...
Podcasts

Episode 2: To Stop or to Keep Going? Self Control After Ramadan
About the Episode Did you know that there are different types of self control? In this episode, we discuss two...