Welcome to the Chair of Sociology and Empirical Social Research

The starting point for our theoretical and empirical research is the idea that one of the roles of sociology is to understand and explain social behavior in the context of the social situation. At the Chair of Sociology and Empirical Social Research, we focus on two main areas:

Situation and behavior

One of our goals is to develop theoretical perspectives further, to examine the mechanisms and processes through which situations are defined, and to identify how specific situations affect social behavior. As a heuristic framework we often use the macro-micro-macro model of sociological explanation and framing models that we develop for specific areas, such as for analysis of the effects of norms and sanctions, rationality and decision, or cooperation and conflict. We strive to create close links between sociological theory and empirical analysis in our work. Through our research, in which we use qualitative and quantitative methods of empirical social research, we aim to contribute to theory-led analysis of social phenomena.

Measurements in the social sciences

Our second goal, which is derived from this theoretical orientation, is to develop and refine methods for situational analysis of social behavior. We are particularly interested in experimental approaches in survey research, through which we aim to identify the social situations that give rise to particular social attitudes and behavior. One of our specializations in this area is critical analysis of the use of vignettes. In this context we often work with the split-ballot method in order to assess aspects of the quality of measurements taken on the basis of vignettes.

Contact:

Postal address:

Katholische Universitaet Eichstaett-Ingolstadt
Lehrstuhl fuer Soziologie und empirische Sozialforschung
85071 Eichstaett
Germany

Office:

Kapuzinerkloster
Kapuzinergasse 2
85072 Eichstaett

Tel.: +49 8421 93 21243
Fax: +49 8421 93 212430
eMail: anke.regensburger(at)ku.de