Research

The methodological background is a subject-oriented approach within the paradigm of hermeneutics of social science. This approach allows the agents to access options for actions within a structural frame. While the patterns of everyday life are investigated rather reconstructively, the allocations are depicted from a descriptive perspective.
The explorative character of the analysis required the use of problem-centred interviews, which were combined with a short standardised questionnaire.
The sample consisted of European adults who share a household with their partners and/or other people. These households can consist of (married) couples with or without (grown-up) children, single parents, and flat-share communities. A second important factor was that owing to their occupation, these people have several flats in several locations and use them in a certain rhythmic sequence.
The answer the project’s research question will be developed based on super-ordinate acting structures and ideal types are developed by means of a meaning-reconstructing analysis.

Publication: Multilokale Haushaltstypen. Report of the DFG project "Neue Multilokale Haushaltstypen" (2006-2008)

Dipl.-Soz. Katja Schucknecht

The Positioning of East Central European Cities in the Context of European Cohesion: Methodological Potential and Limitations of a Secondary Analysis of Official Statistics.

Dipl.-Soz. Ronny Reißmüller

The potential of migrants on the wane: Immigration as a demographic, economic, and cultural factor of stability in underprivileged quarters of East-German cities.