Research at the School of Social Sciences

All three departments of the School (Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology) are devoted to a theoretically informed, empirical-analytical approach to research with a focus on quantitative methods. This includes both methods for controlled data collection (e.g., surveys, observations, experiments) and methods for statistical data analysis.

We strive not only to apply these methods during ongoing research projects, but also to enhance existing methods of data collection and analysis and develop new ones. This aim is pursued at the chairs specifically concerned with methodology in the social sciences.

Even though all three departments have some basic features in common, they use very different methods when it comes to collecting and analyzing data.

• In Psychology, basic research primarily relies on experiments.
• Research projects in Sociology and Political Science are based on repeated surveys among selected samples (panel data) or on data drawn from official national or international statistics.

With respect to data analysis, the three departments predominantly use multivariate statistical methods that are based on the General Linear Model of mathematical statistics, such as variance analysis for experimental data and regression analysis for panel data.

All three subjects are increasingly embracing more diverse research methods – a development that results in a greater overlap in the entire field of social sciences.

This trend is not limited to methods, though. There are a number of common themes that connect the three subjects on the content level, too. Therefore, the School of Social Sciences has a couple of chairs that deal with shared research interests, for example the chairs of Political Sociology, Social Psychology, and Political Psychology.

The chairs of Political Economy, Consumer and Economic Psychology, and Economic and Organizational Sociology combine social sciences with business and economics.