General Information

• Section spokesperson
• Section website
• Methodology center

Professorships and Chairs

• Methods of Empirical Social Research, Prof. Dr. Weins
• Social Science Data Analysis, Prof. Dr. Schräpler
• Junior Professorship Qualitative Research Methodology of Social Science, Prof. Dr. Jessica Pflüger

University Lecturers

• PD Dr. Pötter

Emeritus / Retired Professors

• Prof. em. Dr. Tiede (Chair for Mathematical and Empirical Methods in Social Science)
• Prof. em. Dr. Treinen (Chair of Social Science Methodology and Social Statistics)
• Prof. em. Dr. Voß (Chair of Empirical Social Research (Social Statistics)
• Prof. Dr. Lehner (Chair for Applied Social Research)
• Prof. Dr. Rohwer (Chair of Statistical Concepts and Models for Social Research)

Self-Conception

The members of the section "Social Science Methodology and Statistics" of the Faculty of Social Science are primarily concerned with the following tasks in research and teaching:

• Translation of research problems into a system of investigation, confrontation of "theory" and "data"
• Methods for constructing statistical models, considering temporal and dynamic aspects, among others.
• Combining statistical methods with social network analysis approaches
• Epistemological aspects of social science research and theory
• Combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches
• Development of statistical programs for teaching and research purposes

Along with the theoretical-methodological study of the methods of empirical social research, statistical models, etc., we focus on the application of these methods in concrete research projects. In the section, topics such as the following are dealt with:

• Labor market research
• Life course research
• Education and continuing education research
• Regional research on social structures
• History of empirical social research

Some projects are conducted as "teaching research/Lehrforschung" (advanced seminars), which means that students learn in seminars to select and apply the appropriate models for the analysis based on a concrete research question. For example, there are courses on the research on developing countries. Furthermore, there is a course on "Evaluation of Teaching and Studies/Evaluation von Lehre und Studium", that gives students the opportunity to participate in practical research activities. Students also have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with statistical programs using the computer equipment available in the section and gain insight into the problems of utilizing complex data collection in the social science.