Methods of Empirical Social Research and Social Structure Analysis

Welcome to the web pages of the Section for Methods of Empirical Social Research and Social Structure Analysis.

In this Section students are trained in quantitative methods at both Bachelor’s and Master’s levels. We also provide teaching in Social Stratification (see Teaching). The subject-based research of the Section is focused on three different topics whose shared perspective is (quantitative) research on life trajectories: (tertiary) education, labor market returns, and social inequalities according to, for example, social origin, gender and ethnicity. Our core concern is to understand the significance of national institutions as well as individual decision-making processes in the structuration of unequal educational and paid work trajectories. Our main interests here are institutional conditions in Germany as well as international comparisons. In terms of research methods, our focus is on the issues that arise in connection with statistical modeling, e.g. interaction effects and gaps in data (see Research).

The following pages present an overview of our teaching and research activities as well as information about all the staff of the Section (see staff)External link.