(Post-)Graduate Support at its Best!

Research Focus - Meetings - Events

Background and Goals

In recent years, the possibilities for empirically testing social science theories have significantly improved and expanded—thanks in part to the availability of new surveys with innovative designs and the availability of an entirely new corpus of process-generated data from online sources and administrative bodies. These developments are accompanied by rapid advances in data analysis techniques, which offer (early-career) researchers a wide range of new opportunities. At the same time, they face the challenge of keeping track of increasingly specialized methods and actively engaging with ongoing methodological innovation.

The GRADE Initiative “Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences” aims to support its members in addressing these challenges and making use of new data types in two main ways: First, through regular exchanges as part of the well-established “InFER Mittelbau Colloquium.” In this informal and collegial setting, members and guests discuss research findings and projects from various areas of sociology and political science, with a particular focus on research design and data analysis. Second, distinguished scholars with specialized expertise are invited to give workshops and lectures, enabling early career researchers to use state-of-the-art methods for their projects.

Meetings

The GRADE Initiative meets regularly during the semester as part of the “InFER Mittelbau Colloquium.” The current program can be found on the website of the Institute for Empirical Analytical Research (InFER) or here. 

Interested individuals and new members, including those from other departments, are always welcome to join our meetings!

Contact

If you are interested in participating or have any questions about the content, please contact Susanne Garritzmann.

Members of the GRADE Initiative

Taylan Acar, FB 03 Sociology
Research Areas: Family sociology, gender, immigration, social stratification

Mirko K. Braack, FB 03 Sociology
Research Areas: Gender and family studies

Melanie Dietz, FB 03 Political Science
Research Areas: Electoral research, political participation and attitudes; politicization of gender, gender relations and attitudes; visual analysis methods

Sven Ehmes, FB 03 Sociology
Research Areas: Economic inequality, social stratification, work and employment, social policy, gender, life course

Susanne Garritzmann, FB 03 Political Science
Research Areas: Political socialization; political inequality, participation and attitudes; perceptions of inequality; applied quantitative methods; social policy, especially education policy and systems

Lucca Hoffeller, FB 03 Political Science
Research Areas: Research on political attitudes and behavior

Zsófia S. Ignácz, FB 03 Sociology
Research Areas: Empirical justice research; European solidarity; post-socialist countries; quantitative methodology and structural equation modeling (SEM); applied multivariate data analysis; attitude research; measurement instruments

Max P. Jansen, FB 03 Sociology
Research Areas: Sociology of education; social structure analysis; impostor phenomenon; peace and conflict research; (self-)efficacy beliefs and their influence on educational performance

Yassine Khoudja, FB 03 Sociology
Research Areas: Integration & immigration, gender inequality, labor market, political attitude research, longitudinal and cross-national analyses

Paul Sinzig, FB 03 Sociology
Research Areas: Work, family, and gender; life course research; trajectories of parenthood and leadership; quantitative and qualitative methods; mixed methods; QCA and systematic reviews; academic writing

Osman Suntay, FB 03 Political Science
Research Areas: Religious extremism, elites’ roles in intergroup relations, social identity, governmental and societal levels of discrimination, social and political cleavages, experimental and quasi-experimental methods

Timo Sprang, FB 03 Political Science
Research Areas: The concept, clusters, and consequences of parliamentary opposition; coalition politics; economic and political inequality; radicalism; political communication and media systems

Robert Vief, FB 03 Sociology
Research Areas: Social inequality & segregation; social stratification within the educational system; neighborhood & spatial area effects; spatial data / GIS / mapping / spatial statistics; intersection of institutional & residential segregation; (unequal) access to education and schools in the city / school choice; social networks and their spatial dimensions