The research area’s main research field is the advancement of qualitative and quantitative methods of social research and evaluation. Our research is inspired by neighbouring disciplines such as mathematics, computer sciences and geodesy in quantitative methods and historical and cultural sciences in qualitative research. Our research mainly takes the forms of methodological experiments within on-going research projects. Due to the topics the School VI, the Department of Sociology and we ourselves are doing research on, our focus currently lies on advancing methods in spatial sociology, economic sociology and innovation research.

The research area’s main research field is the advancement of qualitative and quantitative methods of social research and evaluation. Our research is inspired by neighbouring disciplines such as mathematics, computer sciences and geodesy in quantitative methods and historical and cultural sciences in qualitative research. Our research mainly takes the forms of methodological experiments within on-going research projects. Due to the topics the School VI, the Department of Sociology and we ourselves are doing research on, our focus currently lies on advancing methods in spatial sociology, economic sociology and innovation research.

Analyzing Cities, Regions and Space has a long tradition within sociology. Newer theoretical concepts point out that space is always socially constructed: People differ in their ways of thinking about and visualizing space, of using space and of (re)producing space. In our research, we are exploring how these processes work and how to grasp them methodologically.

Our second research field is process sociology. Some of the questions we ask are: Which methods are appropriate for analyzing social patterns and processes (“Verlaufsmuster”)? How are social processes, innovations and risks connected? How do innovation processes work in different fields (e.g. science, the economy)? How can they be organized and which risks come from innovations? How do actors handle social change, innovations and risks?