Welcome to the Department of Methods in the Social Sciences

Our task is to provide high quality methods training to BA, MA and PhD-students at the Faculty of Social Sciences by designing and teaching a wide range of methods courses. To adopt and disseminate newest methodological developments in the Social Sciences we offer workshops conducted by international distinguished scholars. Our service especially focuses on research students conducting empirical social science research using in particular quantitative social science methods.

The Department of Methods in the Social Sciences was established at the Faculty of Social Sciences in 2007. So far its substantive research foci applying quantitative methods are in the areas of political behavior (particularly electoral behavior), party politics and migration studies.

New Professor: Tatjana Thelen at the Faculty of Social Sciences

The Department of Methods in the Social Sciences welcomes Professor Tatjana Thelen who joined our department on 1 May 2012.

Before coming to the University of Vienna, she served as a Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bayreuth. Previously, she was part of the ESZ (Ethnologisches Seminar Zürich) and led the project "Local state and social security in rural Hungary, Romania and Serbia" at the Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale). 

This summer term, Professor Thelen will hold a course on qualitative methods in political science.

New Guest Professor: Michael Lewis-Beck at the Faculty of Social Sciences

Michael Lewis-Beck will join the Department as Paul-Lazarsfeld Guest Professor in April and May 2012. Among others, he will give courses on "Election Forecasting" and "Advanced Quantitative Methods: Research Applications" as well as a workshop titled "The Voter Revisited". Michael Lewis-Beck is Professor Emeritus und F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor at the University of Iowa, USA. He has worked extensively on a broad range of issues, covering inter alia methodology of social research and electoral research.

Office Hours Department of Methods

Office Hours Prof Kritzinger

During the semester Prof Kritzinger's office hours take place on Tuesday afternoons, 2-3 pm. There are no office hours on public holidays.

Please note: students' requests and questions can only be discussed during office hours either by phone or personally. Requests by email cannot be answered.

VO Quantitative Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung

The following books are recommended for the lecture of Prof. Kritzinger

Gehring, Uwe W. and Weins, Cornelia (2004): Grundkurs Statistik für Politologen. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

Diaz-Bone, Rainer (2006): Statistik für Soziologen. Konstanz: UVK (UTB)

Doctoral Study Program in the Social Sciences

For information concerning the new doctoral study program (PhD) please visit the website of the University of Vienna Center for Doctoral Studies or contact the new Study Programme Director Prof. Birgit Sauer.