International Cooperative Research: Experiences and Insights from the Project on Confirmation Work in Europe

Abstract This article describes the long-term research project on confirmation work in Europe which is carried out in ten countries, and discusses it as an example of international cooperative and comparative research in practical theology. Against the background of an increasing demand for international research in practical theology on the one hand and the far-reaching lack of respective studies which is demonstrated by an analysis of the articles published in IJPT on the other, major results and methodological questions from the project on confirmation work are presented. In a final section, the advantages as well as the challenges of international cooperative and comparative research are discussed.