Empirical Social Research Methods

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The research unit devotes itself to research and teaching in the area of empirical social research methods. Thanks to its size, all essential paradigmatic currents in empirical sociology research are represented at the Institute of Sociology. As a consequence, the research unit consciously regards itself as a place of empirical social research which is pluralistic and at the same time committed to high professional standards and where the spectrum of methods ranges from reconstructive, hermeneutic and qualitative approaches to approaches which are deductive and nomological and/or statistical and quantitative.

Within the research unit, a wide range of empirical research projects are underway which work with different techniques of open as well as standardized surveys, content analyses, participative observation, experiments or process-produced data. The lecture series of the Empirical Research Colloquium organized by research unit members offers interested parties a regular insight into our current work.

In the area of teaching, the research unit holds central responsibility for the undergraduate courses in qualitative and quantitative methods training in the Bachelor study programme in Sociology as well as for the research-based methods training offered in the Masters study programmes in Sociology and in Economic Sociology and Sociology of Finance.

In line with its profile, the research unit stands for a broad spectrum of foundation and research-based courses aimed at enabling students to familiarize themselves with different empirical approaches, survey techniques and analysis methods. The research unit also stands for training in empirical social research methods with an interdisciplinary focus and therefore also contributes through its offer to the study programmes in Political Science at the Faculty. The research unit also works closely with the Social Sciences Methods Centre (Methodenzentrum Sozialwissenschaften) of Goethe University Frankfurt. 

spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Daniela Grunow