Event details

Empirical research plays an important role in degree courses and theses. It is an essential part of academic work and a source of surprising insights. The process from developing an empirical question to data collection and data analysis is complex and involves a large number of decisions that influence the success or failure of a study. Often, seemingly unimportant decisions from the beginning of a study turn out to be very relevant in the end – and in the most unpleasant cases, mistakes. At the same time, many problems can be anticipated at an early stage and avoided in advance. The seminar will focus on this and on a basic understanding of empirical research.

The seminar will cover both qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods as well as the associated differences in planning and implementation.

The course will be highly interactive. Participants from different disciplines will report on their experiences and use concrete examples to jointly develop insights into conducting empirical research projects.

The seminar is prepared by an online course, which is completed independently.

After attending the seminar and online course

• you will have an overview of typical research processes and research logics
• be familiar with central methodological approaches and be able to classify them fundamentally
• be able to reflect on how decisions made during the research process affect the success of a study
• have an idea of how to plan your own empirical projects
• be able to develop research questions and derive hypotheses
• have basic information and text skills in a scientific context
• know where to find further information and support options

THIS COURSE IS SPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR STUDENTS OF PEDAGOGY AND CAN BE GRADED AS A PARTIAL CREDIT WITH THE NUMBER T-GEISTSOZ-108346 – Introduction to scientific work and research methodology BE RECOGNIZED.

Workload for ECTS:

4 ECTS:

• Preparation for the seminar via online self-study module (provided in advance)
• Active participation in the workshop
• Submission of an assignment after the workshop

Lecturer:

Michael Mäs is a proud sociologist. His research deals with complex systems such as social networks on the Internet, which he investigates using formal approaches and quantitative methods of social research (surveys, network analysis, laboratory and field experiments). He has published in the fields of sociology, economics, physics, biology and computer science, among others.