Virtual Mid-term Conference of ESA Research Network 21 “Quantitative Methods”: “Quantitative Approaches to Analyzing Social Change”, 9-10 October 2020
Welcome to the official website of the virtual ESA RN 21 mid-term conference “Quantitative Approaches to Analyzing Social Change”, which will be hosted by the University of Lucerne (Switzerland), 9 - 10 October 2020.
Over the last decade, Europe has witnessed deep impacts of the economic crisis as well as ongoing challenges concerning refugees and migrant integration. In addition, new challenges are connected with climate change, labour market developments, processes of digitalization, the rise of populism, demographic changes and unknown consequences of the Brexit. Are such social problems and conflicts connected with long-lasting societal changes? How and why do societies change in cultural, economic or political respect? What are the driving forces of social change? Is it possible to identify causal mechanisms to explain these changes? In short, the analysis and explanation of social change is still one of the main goals of Sociology. The main aim of our mid-term conference is to learn and to exchange ideas how quantitative methods can contribute to improve the empirical analysis of social changes.
Organizer: ESA RN 21 Quantitative Methods
Web:www.unilu.ch/esarn21midterm
Coordinators:
- Coordinator: Jochen Mayerl, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany, Jochen.Mayerl [at] soziologie.tu-chemnitz.de
- Co-coordinator: Kathrin Komp-Leukkunen, University of Helsinki, Finland, kathrin.komp [at] helsinki.fi
Local Organizer:
- Alrik Thiem, University of Lucerne, Switzerland (esarn21midterm@unilu.ch)
Board members with specific functions:
- Treasurer: Henning Best, best [at] sowi.uni-kl.de, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
- Webmaster: Iasonas Lamprianou, lamprianou.iasonas [at] ucy.ac.cy, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
- Scientific Program Advisor: Wolfgang Aschauer, Wolfgang.Aschauer [at] sbg.ac.at, University of Salzburg, Austria
- Social Media Coordination: Tobias Gummer, Tobias.Gummer [at] gesis.org, GESIS, Germany
- Conference Advisor: Jolanta Perek-Bialas, jolanta.perek-bialas [at] uj.edu.pl, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland
Members of the Advisory Board:
- Modesto Escobar, modesto [at] usal.es, University of Salamanca, Spain
- Fabrizio Martire, fabrizio.martire [at] uniroma1.it, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
- Knut Petzold, knut.petzold [at] rub.de, University of Bochum, Germany
- Ildikó Barna, barna.ildiko [at] tatk.elte.hu, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
- Alrik Thiem, alrik.thiem [at] unilu.ch, University of Luzern, Switzerland
- Georg Müller, Georg.Mueller_Unifr [at] bluewin.ch, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Inna Deviatko, deviatko [at] gmail.com, HSE Moscow, Russia
Sponsors
Abstract/session proposal submission: February 6th, 2020 – May 31st, 2020
Information about accepted papers/sessions: Mid of June 2020
Full paper submission for Young Researcher Award: August 31st, 2020
Conference: October 9th – 10th, 2020
- Prof. Dr. Matthias Egger, University of Bern, President of the National Research Council, Swiss National Science Foundation
- Prof. Dr. Manuel Völkle, Humboldt University of Berlin
- Prof. Dr. Rory Fitzgerald, City University, Director of ESS ERIC
- Dr. Vera Lomazzi, Senior Researcher at GESIS, Member/Secretary of the Executive Committee of the European Values Study
Prof. Dr. Matthias Egger
In 2016, Matthias Egger has been elected president of the National Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for the 2017-2020 term of office. The National Research Council has about a hundred members, most of whom work as researchers at higher education institutions in Switzerland. They evaluate thousands of funding applications that are submitted to the SNSF each year and make the funding decisions. The SNSF funds basic research in all academic disciplines on behalf of the Swiss government. It supports more than 3,200 projects and 14,800 researchers each year.
Before becoming president of the National Research Council, Matthias Egger has been director of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bern for fourteen years. He is also a seasoned expert in higher education and research policy. Matthias Egger is a member of several faculties and international scientific committees and has received numerous scientific honours. In Switzerland, he was one of the pioneering researchers who combined epidemiology and public health to fight HIV.
Prof. Dr. Manuel Völkle
Manuel Voelkle is a full professor for psychological research methods at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and an adjunct researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Work in his lab revolves around the design and analysis of multivariate empirical studies with an emphasis on the use of structural equation models for the analysis of longitudinal data. Most of his methodological work is concerned with continuous-time modeling and the analysis of the intricate relationship of between- and within-person differences in psychological constructs as they evolve over time. His lab collaborates closely with other researchers in the study of developmental dynamics in affective and cognitive functioning. Manuel’s interest in methodological and substantive topics is also reflected in his publications, which range from methodological contributions in journals like Psychological Methods, Structural Equation Modeling, or the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology to publications in primarily substantive journals such as Psychology and Aging, Science, or Emotion.
Prof. Dr. Rory Fitzgerald
Rory Fitzgerald became director of the European Social Survey (ESS) in 2013, having been a Senior Research Fellow at City, University of London, since 2004. The ESS is a rigorous comparative biennial survey of changing attitudes and values in up to 34 European countries. In November 2013, the UK and 14 other European governments established the ESS as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS ERIC) – an independent international research organisation hosted at City, University of London. ESS ERIC now has 25 members.
As director of ESS ERIC, Rory Fitzgerald oversees the ESS Core Scientific Team (CST) and the ESS National Coordinators Forum. In addition to these committees, he works closely with the General Assembly as well as the Scientific and Methods advisory boards. With other members of the CST, he was awarded the Descartes Prize in 2005 for 'excellence in collaborative scientific research'. In 2016, the ESS was declared to be a landmark infrastructure by the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures in Europe. There are more than 140,000 registered users of ESS data and almost 4,000 publications using these data.
Dr. Vera Lomazzi
Vera Lomazzi received her PhD from Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, in 2015. In her thesis, she compared gender role attitudes across 22 European countries and analyzed their change over time. In 2014-15, she took part as trainer and consultant in UNICEF funded project in South Lebanon. Until April 2016, she was involved in the Arab Transition project as Quantitative Research Assistant at the University of Aberdeen, where she is now Honorary Research Fellow. In May 2016, she joined GESIS as Research Fellow working at the PROMISE projects (PROMoting youth Involvement and Social Engagement: Opportunities and challenges for 'conflicted' young people across Europe). Since 2018, she has been Senior Researcher at GESIS.
We invite young researchers (PhD students and post-docs no longer than 4 years after the dissertation) to participate in our new Young Researcher Award Challenge. The winning paper will be announced during the conference and awarded a prize of 200 €. If you want to take part in the challenge:
- Please submit an abstract between February 6th, 2020 – March 31st, 2020 and explicitly indicate that you want to take part in the Award Challenge;
- Please submit a full paper (manuscript, under review or published) till 31st August (via email to esarn21midterm@unilu.ch);
- The candidates will present their work in a special „award session“;
- Submissions will be judged by a committee of RN21 board members;
- Selection criteria are innovation and methodological contribution;
- In case of co-authorship with a supervisor: the Young Researcher must be the first author, and only the Young Researcher can receive the award.
The mid-term conference aims to raise the methodological potentials and challenges of quantitative research of social change. We welcome papers and sessions about the following topics, which are of course by no means exhaustive:
- Data collection: Problems and solutions of longitudinal data collection to analyze social change;
- Statistical approaches: Comparison of methodological boundaries, pros and cons of different statistical methods for longitudinal data to identify and explain social change (e.g. fixed effects panel regression, latent growth curve models, multilevel models, cross-lagged models, continuous time models etc.);
- Experimental and quasi-experimental designs to analyze social change;
- Big Data methods: Possibilities and problems of the application of new emerging digital methods to analyze social change;
- Computer simulation and modeling of social change;
- Cross-national studies: How can we make use of cross-national surveys to analyze social change in Europe and how do we define adequate units of analysis? This session will be organized in cooperation with ESS and EVS (see information below)
- Substantive contributions to the analysis of social change in different fields of Sociology (e.g. environmental sociology, ethnocentrism and populism research, quality of life,
social indicators, political and social trust, etc.); - „Award session“: Best Paper Young Researcher Award (see information below)
- General session on various methodological topics
Confirmed Joint Session: „European Surveys Panel“
Organized together with European Values Study (EVS) and European Social Survey (ESS).
Please consider to submit your papers using ESS and/or EVS data!
Please submit no later than 31st of May:
- For individual presentation: abstract of up to 300 words plus 3-5 keywords
- For session proposals: description of the session (ca. 300 words) plus an abstract with up to 300 words from at least three panelists
Please submit your paper/session proposals to: esarn21midterm@unilu.ch
Participants will be notified regarding the acceptance of their submissions at the latest by mid of June, 2020.
If you are a presenter at the midterm conference, please register by sending an e-mail confirming your participation to esarn21midterm@unilu.ch by 18 September. If you are not a presenter at the midterm conference, but you would like to attend one or more keynotes or sessions, please send a registration e-mail with your full name and affiliation to esarn21midterm@unilu.ch by 2 October. Only registered participants will receive invitation links to the virtual meeting rooms.
No conference fees will be charged