This course covers the basics of quantitative social research. Students work in small groups and will be guided through the different steps of the research process. In doing so, the course combines introductory and advanced lectures with opportunities to apply the acquired knowledge in small-scale research projects. On the basis of in-depth lectures and group exercises, the participants deal with the following problems and topics of quantitative social research:

Basics of quantitative social research: research process, research designs, correlation and causality, sampling, objectivity, reliability, validity, theories and hypotheses

Survey research: operationalization, questionnaire design, survey error, survey experiments

Data management and data analysis: descriptive statistics, index construction, bivariate correlations, multivariate analyses

Upon completion of the course, students will have acquired the skills necessary to critically evaluate published research articles and independently conduct small research projects. After the course, students…

· … know about the advantages and disadvantages of various quantitative research designs.

· ... can critically evaluate the validity of empirical studies.

· ... understand the relationship between data collection and data analysis.

· ... are aware of the sources of error in empirical (survey) research.

· ... are able to interpret statistical results against the background of data collection.

At the beginning of the course, students are sorted into small groups based on their preferences for research topics. The sessions offer a mix of content-related inputs (lectures by the course instructor, plenary discussion, reading of basic texts) and opportunities for the implementation of own research projects (group work and short presentations).

During the semester, students make three submissions: Progress Report (25%: of which 15% individual performance and 10% group performance), Survey Instrument (20%), and Final Report (45%: of which 25% individual performance and 20% group performance). In addition, active participation in the general discussion and group exercises will be evaluated (10%).

At the end of this course, points are converted to grades based on the following scale: 0-50: Nicht Genügend; 50.1-62.5 Genügend; 62.6-75 Befriedigend; 75.1-87.5 Gut; 87.6-100 Sehr Gut.

Anwesenheit in der ersten Einheit ist für die endgültige Aufnahme in die LV unbedingt erforderlich!