Author Archives: Simon Jebsen

Questionnaire Design

Institution: see Organisers & Acknowledgements

Programme of study: International Research Workshop

Lecturer: Dr. Timo Lenzner (Gesis – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences)

Date: Monday, 29/09/14 – Wednesday, 01/10/14 from 14.30-18.00 h

Max. number of participants: 20

Credit Points: 5 CP for participating in the whole IRWS

Language of instruction: English

Contents:

The objective of this course is to give participants a thorough grounding in the psychological processes involved in answering survey questions and to introduce them to principles that can be applied to write effective survey questions. It covers the general principles of questionnaire design, question wording and construction of answer formats, special issues faced in writing factual, attitudinal and sensitive questions, and an introduction to various methods of questionnaire pretesting. Sessions combine lectures with practical exercises and discussion.

Please note that the course does not cover the psychometric principles of item or scale development. The course does not require any previous knowledge.

Recommended literature and pre-readings:

  • Krosnick, J. A. & Presser, S. (2010). Question and Questionnaire Design. In P. V. Marsden & J. D. Wright (Eds.), Handbook of Survey Research (2nd ed.) (pp. 263-313). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
  • Fowler, Floyd J., Jr. and Carol Cosenza (2008). “Writing effective survey questions”, in: De Leeuw, Edith D., Joop J. Hox and Don A. Dillman (eds.), The international handbook of survey methodology, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 136-160. (http://joophox.net/papers/SurveyHandbookCRC.pdf)
  • Schaeffer, Nora Cate and Stanley Presser. 2003. “The Science of Asking Questions.” Annual Review of Sociology, 29: 65-88.

You have to register for the 8th International Research Workshop to participate in this course.

Spatial and Panel Econometrics

Institution: see Organisers & Acknowledgements

Programme of study: International Research Workshop

Lecturer: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nisar Ahmad, Assoc. Prof. Time Friedel Mietze & Prof. Dr. Torben Dall Schmidt (University of Southern Denmark/Department of Border Region Studies)

Date: Monday, 29/09/14 – Wednesday, 01/10/14 from 14.30-18.00 h

Max. number of participants: 20

Credit Points: 5 CP for participating in the whole IRWS

Language of instruction: English

Contents:

NB: Please bring your laptop computers with STATA installed on it.

The course is basically divided into two parts: Part 1) Analyzing panel data. Part 2) Spatial Data Analysis

Part 1): Structure of the Panel Data: This part of the course is an introduction to the panel data analysis and it provides some insights into why we use panel data. What kinds of models are available for panel data and how do we estimate such models. It also covers some extensions to the basic panel data models and finally there will be a session where you will learn how to estimate panel data using STATA.

Part 2): Spatial Data Analysis: In research fields such as regional science, quantitative sociology and business analysis as well as real estate, labor and health economics (to name just a few), researchers are increasingly aware of the fact that “space matters”. Thus, the goal of this workshop module is to equip participants with the basic knowledge about methods and tools currently available in “spatial statistics” and “spatial econometrics”. Besides presenting the general logic and theoretical foundations of these modeling approaches for variables with an explicit geographical context, a strong focus lies on illustrating the potential for applied work with these tools in the software package STATA. The module is structured as follows: After a brief introduction of the historical evolution of spatial data analysis, different research settings in economics and related research fields are outlined, which may call for the explicit use of spatial estimation techniques, for instance, in order to identify the importance of space-time autocorrelations and neighboring effects (spatial spillovers). Following this introduction, the concept of the spatial weighting matrix is introduced and statistical approaches to measure and visualize the degree of spatial dependence for a variable under study are presented. Moving from univariate to multivariate modeling techniques, the course then derives estimation techniques used in the field of spatial econometrics and links this theoretical knowledge with hands-on applications for different spatial datasets. Finally, to serve as an outlook on future research possibilities, state-of-the-art concepts such as spatial panel data models and spatial limited dependent variable models will be presented. Datasets and STATA ado-files will be provided ahead of the course and should be installed on the participants’ computers.

You have to register for the 8th International Research Workshop to participate in this course.

Introduction to Data Sets

Institution: see Organisers & Acknowledgements

Programme of study: International Research Workshop

Lecturer:

SOEP: PD Dr. Elke Holst (German Institute for Economic Research/DIW Berlin)
ALLBUS: Dipl.-Soz. Michael Blohm (GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences)
IAB Data: Dipl.-Vw. Stefan Seth (Institute for Employment Research/IAB)

Date: Monday, 29/09/14 – Wednesday, 01/10/14 from 09.00-12.30 h

Max. number of participants: 20

Credit Points: 5 CP for participating in the whole IRWS

Language of instruction: English

Contents:

Monday, 29/09/14: Introduction to the SOEP

The Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) is a longitudinal study of private households in Germany. The panel provides information on all household members and was started in 1984. In 2011, there were more than 12,300 households with more than 21,000 persons sampled. Some of the many topics include household composition, occupational biographies, employment, earnings, health, wellbeing, integration, values, lifestyles, and personality. The course gives an overview of the data structure and the research designs facilitated by longitudinal household studies that go beyond conventional surveys (household analysis, intergenerational analysis, life course research, etc.). The course provides an applied introduction into the data retrieval via SOEPinfo.

Required: statistical knowledge, basic Stata or SPSS skills.

Recommended literature and pre-readings:

Tuesday, 30/09/14: Introduction to the ALLBUS

ALLBUS (Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften – German General Social Survey (GGSS)) is one of the foremost survey programs in Germany. It has been institutionalized as a part of GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. The prototype for similar national data generation programs is the American General Social Survey (GSS).

Since 1980, ALLBUS/GGSS has provided a series of representative cross-sectional samples drawn from the adult population in Germany. These biennial surveys include partly replicative and partly innovative question modules and added value data for analyses of social structure, attitudes, values, and behavior in Germany. Moreover, users may find various possibilities for international comparisons. Currently, 19 ALLBUS/GGSS surveys (1980-2012) with a total of 57,723 respondents are available. A large part of the documentation has been translated into English.

In its first part the course gives an overview of the project as such. Basic sampling procedures, various question modules, and recent activities of the ALLBUS Research Data Center will be presented. The second part consists of hands-on exercises of chosen data. The analyses will be done primarily using Stata. Participants should have fundamental knowledge in data handling, in statistical data analysis and in using programs like Stata/SPSS via syntax. In addition, a report on the experience in ALLBUS/GGSS with Survey Nonresponse will be given.

Recommended literature and pre-readings:

  • Alba, Richard, Peter Schmidt and Martina Wasmer (eds.) 2003: Germans or Foreigners? Attitudes Towards Ethnic Minorities in Post-Reunification Germany, New York und Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Blohm, Michael, Franziska Lerch, Ute Hoffstätter, Katharina Schmidt and Daniel Nowack 2013: ALLBUS-Bibliographie (27. Fassung), GESIS – Technical Reports 2013|06.
  • Davis, James Allen, Peter Ph. Mohler and Tom W. Smith 1994: Nationwide General Social Surveys, in: Borg, Ingwer and Peter Ph. Mohler (eds.), Trends and Perspectives in Empirical Social Research, Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter: 17-25.
  • Smith, Tom W., Jibum Kim, Achim Koch and Alison Park 2005: Social-Science Research and the General Social Surveys, in: ZUMA-Nachrichten 56: 68-77.
  • Terwey, Michael 2000: ALLBUS: A German General Social Survey, in: Schmollers Jahrbuch 120: 151-158.
  • Terwey, Michael and Horst Baumann 2013: Variable Report German General Social Survey. ALLBUS / GGSS Cumulation 1980 – 2010, ZA-Study-No 4576, Cologne: GESIS, GESIS – Variable Reports No. 2013|2.

Wednesday, 01/10/14: Introduction to IAB Data

The Institute for Employment Research in Nuremberg has available a wealth of micro data on the German labor market and offers access to it in its Research Data Center (FDZ). The course’s goal is to arouse the participants’ interest in FDZ data and to guide their first steps into analyzing them. The focus will be on two large administrative data sets, namely the Sample of Integrated Employment Biographies (SIAB) and the Establishment History Panel (BHP). In hands-on sessions we will explore, cleanse and prepare the data, calculate durations, and implement simple imputation procedures. The course will also cover in some detail the IAB Establishment Panel, the FDZ’s most important survey data set, and the Linked Employer-Employee Dataset of the IAB (LIAB); other FDZ data will also be presented, but rather cursorily.

FDZ website
Overview of FDZ data

Basic to medium Stata skills required for the tutorial.

You have to register for the 8th International Research Workshop to participate in this course.

Expert Interviews

Institution: see Organisers & Acknowledgements

Programme of study: International Research Workshop

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Betina Hollstein (University of Hamburg)

Date: Monday, 29/09/14 – Wednesday, 01/10/14 from 09.00-12.30 h

Max. number of participants: 20

Credit Points: 5 CP for participating in the whole IRWS

Language of instruction: English

Contents:

Expert interviews are often used in empirical social research. Sometimes they are part of the preparatory stage of a study. Sometimes expert interviews are the main data source. The course will focus on theory and practice of expert interviews, i.e. methodological foundations and practical considerations when conducting expert interviews.

The course starts out with a brief overview on the specific characteristics of qualitative data and methods. We will discuss problems and challenges associated with qualitative interviewing and different ways to deal with these challenges. We will address different types of expert interviews (guided interviews, narrative interview), by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and discussing the crucial steps when preparing and conducting expert interviews. Finally, we will discuss how to get access to the field, ways of data management and different strategies for data analysis.

Required basic knowledge: Basic knowledge and skills in social research methods and methodology (Bachelor degree in a Social Science discipline).

You have to register for the 8th International Research Workshop to participate in this course.

Qualitative Research Methodology and Design Strategies

Institution: see Organisers & Acknowledgements

Programme of study: International Research Workshop

Lecturer: Dr. Anna Brake (University of Augsburg)

Date: Monday, 29/09/14 – Wednesday, 01/10/14 from 09.00-12.30 h

Max. number of participants: 18

Credit Points: 5 CP for participating in the whole IRWS

Language of instruction: English

Contents:

Methodological rigor is of vital importance for the success of an qualitative research project. Research question, methodological approach of data collection, sampling and strategies of (verbal) data analysis have to be well matched in order to ensure a compelling overall research process. The workshop aims at providing the opportunity to discuss methodological issues and questions of qualitative research designs in the light of the participant’s own dissertation projects. It addresses Ph.D. students who seek further clarification for their methodological rationale in their qualitative study regarding the appropriateness  of the underlying research question, sampling procedures, interview or observation techniques, approaches for data analysis and others. Thus, in the workshop we will not debate on general issues of methodological importance, but will focus on the methodologically demanding topics the participants are facing within their own qualitative study.

Participants should be well advanced in defining the particular purpose of their qualitative research. They are kindly asked to submit a research abstract no later than two weeks before the beginning of the workshop to anna.brake@phil.uni-augsburg.de

You have to register for the 8th International Research Workshop to participate in this course.

Data Analysis with Stata

Institution: see Organisers & Acknowledgements

Programme of study: International Research Workshop

Lecturer: Dipl.-Verw. Wiss. Tobias Gramlich (University of Duisburg-Essen)

Date: Monday, 29/09/14 – Wednesday, 01/10/14 from 09.00-12.30 h

Max. number of participants: 20

Credit Points: 5 CP for participating in the whole IRWS

Language of instruction: English

Contents:

Stata is a statistical program package widely used (not only) in the social and economical sciences; it is used for data management, statistical graphics and analysis of quantitative data. Statistical concepts will not be part of the course, so participants should have some very basic knowledge of statistics. The course should enable participants to prepare their data for analysis, perform adequate analysis using a statistical computer program and to document these tasks to keep them reproducible.

For Beginners with no or very little Stata knowledge!

Course topics cover:

  • “What You Type is What You Get”: Basic stata Command syntax
  • Getting (and Understanding) Help within stata: stata Bulit-in Help System
  • Basic Data Management: Load and Save stata Datasets, Generate and Manipulate Variables, Describe and Label Data and Variables, Perform Basic uni- and bivariate Analyses, Change the Structure of your Data
  • Basic stata Graphics: Scatterplot, Histogram, Bar Chart
  • Working with “Do-” and “Log-” Files

You have to register for the 8th International Research Workshop to participate in this course.

Data Analysis with R

Institution: see Organisers & Acknowledgements

Programme of study: International Research Workshop

Lecturer: Dr. Marco Lehmann (University of Hamburg)

Date: Monday, 29/09/14 – Wednesday, 01/10/14 from 09.00-12.30 h

Max. number of participants: 20

Credit Points: 5 CP for participating in the whole IRWS

Language of instruction: English

Contents:

The course introduces the programming language R used for statistical analyses. The beginning of each lecture comes with a demonstration of programming and statistical functions that will be elaborated in the course of study. The students will then practice with many statistical examples. In addition to statistical functions the course will introduce the definition of R as a programming language and its syntax rules. Students will further learn to use R’s scripting capabilities. Successful participation requires basic knowledge in descriptive and inferential statistics. The students are encouraged to bring their own laptops with the free software R (www.r-project.org/) and RStudio (www.rstudio.com/) installed.

Recommended literature and pre-readings:

  • Wollschläger, Daniel (2012). Grundlagen der Datenauswertung mit R (2. Aufl.). Berlin: Springer.

You have to register for the 8th International Research Workshop to participate in this course.

Clusters in the Context of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Smart Specialisation Strategies & Regional Development

University of Flensburg – University of Southern Denmark– Curtin University (Perth)
Cluster Workshop 2014: Sept. 15-16, 2014 in Flensburg

WORKSHOP THEME

Clusters are still a hot topic for scholars from different disciplines. More recently, specific interestin the field was directed towards the establishment of entrepreneurial ecosystems, smart specialization strategies and regional development. Linking these topics into Public Policies and firm strategies in clusters is the central theme of this workshop.

The organisers of the workshop will organise an edited book or a special issue of a journal on the topic of the workshop theme. Participants at the workshop will have the possibility to submit their papers for refereeing for inclusion in the publication.

INVITATION TO ATTEND

The workshop will take place between September 15 and 16, 2014 at the International Institute of Management of the University of Flensburg (http://www.uni-flensburg.de) located in the very North of Germany at the border to Denmark.

Optional the participants may join a Work-in-progress workshop at the University of Southern Denmark in Sønderborg on September 17.

The workshop in Flensburg is held as a combination of keynote speeches, paper presentations, highly interactive session as well as a colloquium for doctoral students. The idea of the workshop/symposium in Sønderborg is to give the participants the possibility to present and discuss work in progress projects.

INVITED TOPICS

We are particularly interested in developing new knowledge in the area of firm clusters with regard to a resource-oriented perspective on clusters bringing together a wide range of multidisciplinary and cross sectoral approaches.

We invite papers from researchers and practitioners in the following topic areas:

  •  Smart specialisation strategies & clusters
  • Entrepreneurial ecosystems in clusters
  • Small business incubation in clusters
  • Cross-border clusters
  • The role of public policy in clusters
  • Firm resources, strategy and clustering
  • Cluster management and facilitation
  • Cluster mapping and evaluation
  • Best and worst practice cluster cases
  • Innovation networks

ORGANISATIONAL MATTERS

There will not be a fee for participation but it is expected that the participants pay for their transport, accommodation and meals during the conference.

ORGANISING TEAM

Professor Kerry Brown & Professor John Burgess, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Professor Susanne Gretzinger, University of Southern Denmark
Professor Susanne Royer, University of Flensburg, Germany

CFP_Cluster Workshop_2014

Management Revue: Call for Book Reviews

Management Revue is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary European journal publishing both qualitative and quantitative work, as well as purely theoretical papers that advances the study of management, organization, and industrial relations.

We would like to increase the range of books and reviewers included in the journal. We are interested in book reviews in current texts and books within the past five years. The book review should provide a critical assessment of the text and offer substantive commentary on the quality of the content and connection to other published work. Reviews should be between 800 and 1.500 words.

If you are interested in writing a book review please contact Mangement Revues Editor, Simon Fietze with the title of the book you wish to review.

BAM2014 Paper Submission is Now Open

Paper submission for the BAM2014 Conference is now officially open! To submit a paper please go to:

Information Before You Submit

  • Before submitting a paper, please ensure that you have read all of thepaper submission requirements.
  • You can only submit a paper to one track. To choose, please find out more on the tracks available at BAM2014.
  • Please be aware that you can only submit a maximum of 3 papers to the BAM2014 Conference.

Deadline to Submit

The deadline to submit a paper to the BAM2014 Conference is the 26th of February.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.