Category Archives: Research Design

Universität Hamburg-Workshop: Philosophy of Science (1. Session: 07.09. – 09.09.15 /2. Session: 12.10. – 13.10.15)

Institution: University of Hamburg

Lecturer: Prof. Timothy M. Devinney (Leeds University Business School)

Date: September 07-09 & October 12-13, 2015

Place: University of Hamburg

Language of instruction: English

Registration: For further information on the registration process, please see this link.

Contents: Many variables of interest to social, political and behavioral scientists are non-contin

This course is concerned with the nature of social science inquiry. It is intended for students in  the  business  and  management  disciplines  and  those  early  in  their  masters and  doctoral research program. The course will take the form of a seminar. Students will be pre-assigned readings and will lead the discussion. The course is broken into four sections:

  1. an introductory overview to the philosophy of science,
  2. a review of epistemology (the nature and scope of knowledge),
  3. a review of ontology (the what can be said to exist), and
  4. specific applications to the major disciplinary areas.

For further information, please see this link.

Universität Hamburg-Workshop: The economics of biomedical innovation (02.06.2015)

Institution: University of Hamburg

Lecturer: Prof. Frank Lichtenberg, Professor of Business, Columbia University

Date: June 02, 2015

Place: University of Hamburg

Language of instruction: English

Registration: For further information on the registration process, please see this link.

Contents: There is considerable debate about the social returns to biomedical research and innovation. The primary purpose of this course is to discuss econometric methods for evaluating the overall impact of biomedical innovation — much of which is embodied in new products and procedures — on longevity and health. We will consider analyses based upon a variety of research designs, medical innovation measures, health outcome measures, and populations. We will also analyze the impact of various public policies on biomedical innovation.

For further information, please see this link.

HSU-Workshop: Einführung in die Meta-Analyse (19.-20.11.2015)

Institution: Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Martin Eisend, Europa Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Date: November 19-20, 2015

Place: Helmut-Schmidt-Universität, Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg

Language of instruction: German

Registration: For further information on the registration process, please see this link.

Contents:

Metaanalysen integrieren empirische Befunde mehrerer Untersuchungen zu einer bestimmten Fragestellung und analysieren die Variabilität dieser Befunde. Damit bieten sie Wissenschaftlern und Wissenschaftlerinnen eine Möglichkeit, bisherige Forschungsergebnisse quantitativ zu integrieren und zu bewerten und sich somit einen Überblick über die empirische Forschung zu einer Fragestellung zu verschaffen. Sie helfen Wissenschaftlern und Wissenschaftlerinnen auch bei der Erklärung und Interpretation von unterschiedlichen und zum Teil gegensätzlichen Befunden in der bisherigen Forschung. Durch ihre generalisierenden Befunde unterstützt die Metaanalyse auch Praktiker bei der Entscheidungsfindung. Aufgrund der stark zunehmenden Anzahl von empirischen Untersuchungen in vielen Disziplinen der betriebswirtschaftlichen Forschung kommt die Metaanalyse in diesen Bereichen zunehmend zum Einsatz.

Der Kurs wendet sich an Nachwuchswissenschaftler und Nachwuchswissenschaftlerinnen, die sich mit der Methode der Metaanalyse vertraut machen möchten und lernen möchten, wie man diese erfolgreich einsetzt und verwendet. Nach Besuch des Kurses sind die Teilnehmer und Teilnehmerinnen in der Lage…

  • selbstständig Metaanalysen zu einer von Ihnen gewählten Fragestellung durchzuführen, beginnend von der Literaturrecherche über die Kodierung von Studien bis hin zur softwaregestützten Auswertung der Daten;
  • unterschiedliche Metaanalysen in der Fachliteratur im Hinblick auf die ver-wendeten Methoden zu unterscheiden, einzuordnen und zu beurteilen;
  • der inhaltlichen und methodischen Diskussion zur Metaanalyse zu folgen.

Der Kurs setzt grundlegende Kenntnisse in Statistik und multivariater Datenanalyse voraus. Insbesondere sollten die Teilnehmer und Teilnehmerinnen mit Test-verfahren und regressionsanalytischen Techniken vertraut sein; erwünscht ist auch ein Grundverständnis von Strukturgleichungsmodellen.

For further information please see this link.

 

GIGA-Workshop: Causal Case Studies: Comparing, Matching, Tracing (01.-02.06.2015)

Institution: GIGA Doctoral Programme

Lecturer: Prof. Derek Beach PhD, Aarhus

Date: June 01-02, 2015

Place: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Neuer Jungfernstieg 21 in Hamburg

Language of instruction: English

Registration: Participants need to register until May 10 via the GIGA website.

Contents: The aim of this course is to provide students with a set of methodological tools that enable the use of case study methods in your own research. A constant theme throughout the course will be on debating the strengths and limitations of different small-n methods, illustrating the types and scopes of inferences that are possible, and whether and how they can be nested into mixed-methods research designs, focusing on how these issues play out in the context of your own research.

Further information

GIGA-Workshop: Triangulation of Qualitative and Quantitative Research (28.-29.05.2015)

Institution: GIGA Doctoral Programme

Lecturer: Prof. Nigel Fielding PhD, Surrey

Date: May 28-29, 2015

Place: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Neuer Jungfernstieg 21 in Hamburg

Language of instruction: English

Registration: Participants need to register until May 10 via the GIGA website.

Contents: The workshop aims to introduce students to the dynamic development of social science approaches to the inter-relation and integration of qualitative and quantitative research. Tracing the movement from the classic formulations of triangulation for convergent validation to the contemporary approach of triangulation for analytic density, the workshop will feature a range of research examples and extended exemplars of triangulation in practice. It will also feature the role of information technologies in supporting and facilitating mixed methods research.

Further information

GIGA-Workshop: Interpretive Methods (21.-22.05.2015)

Institution: GIGA Doctoral Programme

Lecturer: Dr. Lauren Wilcox, Cambridge

Date: May 21-22, 2015

Place: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Neuer Jungfernstieg 21 in Hamburg

Language of instruction: English

Registration: Participants need to register until May 10 via the GIGA website.

Contents: Interpretive methodologies are centered upon the meaning-making practices of actors and are key research strategies of social constructivist perspectives on global politics, broadly construed. While there is some overlap between qualitative research methods and interpretive methods, these two terms are not synonymous. There is not a single interpretivist methodology; rather, interpretive methodologies may include case study analysis, ethnography, participant observation, grounded theory, genealogy, discourse analysis, feminist analysis, and more. This course provides an introduction to interpretivism as a genre of research methodologies that share an emphasis on the socially constructed nature of meaning and knowledge, discusses a variety of different kinds of interpretivist methodologies including feminism, constructivism and critical theory and more recent advances, and provides a forum for discussing issues of research design, quality criteria (how do we know the author’s claims should be trusted?) and selection of material.

Further information

GIGA-Workshop: Research Designs and Research Questions (27.-28.04.2015)

Institution: GIGA Doctoral Programme

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Heike Klüver, Bamberg

Date: April 27-28, 2015

Place: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Neuer Jungfernstieg 21 in Hamburg

Language of instruction: English

Registration: Participants need to register until April 10 via the GIGA website.

Contents: This course will introduce PhD students to the fundamentals of crafting a research design in the Social Sciences. A well-thought and carefully designed research plan is the key to a good dissertation. The research design specifies how you are going to carry out your research project and, particularly, how to use empirical evidence to answer your research question. This course is designed to introduce students to the core issues involved in developing a sound research design.

Further information

Graduate School der Universität Hamburg: Family Economics

Institution: Graduate School der Universität Hamburg

Dozentinnen: Miriam Beblo & Evelyn Korn (Univ. Marburg)

Datum und Zeitplanung:

  • Mo., 13.04.15, 09-18:15 Uhr
  • Di., 14.04.15,   10-18:30 Uhr
  • Mi., 15.04.15,   08:30-12:30 Uhr

Ort: Universität Hamburg, Raum B 136 (VMP 9)

Beschreibung:

PhD Seminar „Family Economics – Theoretical and empirical perspectives on reconciling family and work“

Prof. Miriam Beblo (Universität Hamburg) | Professor Evelyn Korn (Philipps-Universität Marburg) SoSe 2015

Fertility rates are decreasing, unskilled labour abounding while skilled labour becomes scarce. How to address these issues? The reconciliation of family life and work – particularly for women – appears to be one way out and has apparently become a major goal of non-governmental organizations (including firms) and governments in most industrialized countries. The proposed measures address acting individuals (by affirmative action rules) as well as families and households (by family-based taxation, child transfers, or parental-leave arrangements). To see how policies at different levels can affect individual decision making as well as individual and household welfare, decision making models that include individual objectives and social organization are necessary. This connection is the core of household theory and of our seminar.

The seminar will introduce basic household models. It will take a game- and contract-theoretical perspective which allows us to analyse the effect of the institutional setup on individual decision making and the evolution of institutions that is triggered by these decisions.

In addition to the theoretical perspective, the seminar will address empirical family economic approaches. Together with the students we will derive testable implications and review empirical methods as well as data sources to set up these tests.

The participants are expected to present their own research ideas and moot their theoretical and empirical approaches to the seminar. Alternatively to own papers students may present an overview of family economic studies in economic journals and focus on one publication of their choice.

The key questions are:

How is household production organized and how does this relate to market work?

  • What are the conflicts between individual and household welfare? How does legislation interfere?
  • How do household formation and household behavior interact?

Important note by Prof. Korn: The detailed schedule of the course depends on the participants’ prerequisites and heterogeneity. To be able to use the time in class as productively as possible, I would like to learn about your prior knowledge and interests. Therefore, there will be self-test given on March 13. I will use the information from the test to fine-tune the course schedule for the theoretical part.

Anmeldung:

Anmeldungen sind ab sofort bis zum 19.03.2015 über Geventis https://www.geventis.uni-hamburg.de möglich.

Graduate School der Uni Hamburg: Process Tracing and Social Mechanisms in Social Sciences

Institution: Graduate School der Universität Hamburg

Dozent: Birgit Pfau-Effinger

Datum und Zeitplanung:

Mittwochs, jeweils 10:15-11:45,

  • 15.04.15
  • 06.5.15
  • 20.05.15
  • 10.06.15
  • 24.06.15
  • 02.07.15

Blockseminar:

  • Mo., 29.06.15, 14-18 Uhr
  • Di., 30.06.15, 09-18 Uhr

Ort: Universität Hamburg, Raum B 136 (VMP 9)

Unterrichtssprache: Deutsch

Beschreibung:

There is a relatively new debate in the field of comparative institutional research, according to which “process tracing” is an adequate way to analyze the mechanisms though which explanatory variables exert an influence on the dependent variables. Process tracing is a theory-based methodological approach in social sciences to study the “causes of effects”, this is to analyze why some explanatory variables have a specific effect on a dependent variable. The aim of the Seminar is to get in-depth knowledge of the scientific literature that introduces several variants of this methodological approach and about the ways in which social scientists have applied it. Moreover, it will be discussed how it is possible to introduce process tracing into the design of an empirical study and to apply it for cross-national and historical empirical research.

The seminar will comprise 2 SWS. It will take place regularly on Wednesday, 10:15-11:45 on the following dates: 15.4., 6.5., 20.5., 10.6., 24.6., 2.7.. In addition, it will be organized as a block seminar on Montag, 29.6., 14-16, 16-18; and on Tuesday, 30.6. 9-11, 11-13, 14-16, 16-18.

Relevant publications for an introduction into the theme (selected):

  • Deters, Henning (2012) Process tracing in the development and validation of theoretical explanations: the example of environmental policy-making in the EU, European Political Science 12.
  • Hedström, Peter; Ylikoski, Petri, Causal Mechanisms in the Social Sciences, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 36: 49-67
  • Mahoney, James (2012) The Logic of Process Tracing in Social Science, Sociological Methods & Research 2012 41: 570
  • Mahoney, James (2004), Comparative-Historical Methodology, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 30 (2004), pp. 81-101Published
  • Martin, Claude (2010), The Reframing of Family Policy in France: Actors, Ideas and Instruments, Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 20, 5, 410-421.

Anmeldung:

Anmeldungen sind ab sofort bis zum 19.03.2015 über Geventis https://www.geventis.uni-hamburg.de möglich.

Graduate School der Uni Hamburg: Estimation and Solution of DSGE Models: Application to Labor Search Models

Institution: Graduate School der Universität Hamburg

Dozent: Alexander Meyer-Gohde

Datum und Zeitplanung:

  • Fr., 10.04.15,   09-17 Uhr
  • Fr., 08.05.15, 09-17 Uhr
  • Fr., 26.06.15, 09-17 Uhr

Ort: Universität Hamburg, Raum 1077 (VMP 5)

Beschreibung:

The course is based on techniques and applications and explores the importance of the labor market in macroeconomics using a variety of methodological tools. It is designed to develop and sharpen students’ prior knowledge dynamic macroeconomics and econometrics with a mixture of lectures on state-of-the-art solution and estimation techniques for macroeconomic models and application of the techniques to search theory with standard software packages and models from the literature.

 

Course Outline

  1. Introduction
Concepts/techniques: Data filtering, DSGE linearized difference equations
Main readings: King and Rebelo (1993), Shimer (2005), Uhlig (1997) sec. 3
Additional reading: Hamilton (1994) ch. 1

 

  1. Baseline Search and Matching Model
Concepts/techniques: Intertemporal optimization, search and matching
Reading: Merz (1995)

 

  1. Root Finding Methods, Linear Solution Methods
Concepts/techniques: Bisection, Newton-based methods, eigenvalue methods
Reading: Judd (1998) ch. 5, Uhlig (1997) sec. 6 and 7
Additional readings: Fernández-Villaverde (2010) sec. 4.1

 

  1. State Space and Likelihood Function
Concepts/techniques: Kalman filter, likelihood function
Main reading: Fernández-Villaverde (2010) sec. 4.2
Additional reading: Hamilton (1994) ch. 13.2 and 13.4

 

  1. Estimation Methods and Model Analysis
Concepts/techniques: Maximum likelihood, Bayesian methods, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, Diagnostics, Model Comparison
Main reading: Fernández-Villaverde (2010) sec. 4 and 5
Additional reading: An and Schorfheide (2007) sec. 3 and 4

 

  1. Nonlinear Methods
Concepts/techniques: Perturbation, Particle Filter
Main reading: Fernández-Villaverde (2010) sec. 4.2.2 and An and Schorfheide (2007) sec. 6
Additional reading: Lan and Meyer-Gohde (2013), Schmitt-Grohé and Uribe (2004)

 

 

Anmeldung:

Anmeldungen sind ab sofort bis zum 19.03.2015 über Geventis https://www.geventis.uni-hamburg.de möglich.