Institute of Sociology

Empirical Research Methods and Social Stratification

Prof. Dr. Steffen Hillmert

Profile of the research area

Our team conducts research and offers teaching in empirical research methods as well as in the analysis of social stratification, particularly the description of social inequalities across the life course, e.g. in terms of gender, age, education or region.

Teaching in the field of empirical research starts in the second term of the undergraduate program as part of the lecture Empirical Social Research II. At the same time, the Department of Business and Economics offers the Statistics I lecture followed by the Statistics II lecture in the third term. During the third term, the lecture Social Stratification Analysis of Germany in International Comparison is offered. The lectures are complemented by tutorials. During the fourth term, students apply and practice their knowledge in the context of quantitatively orientated method seminars. Moreover, our team offers courses of applied sociology covering topics such as life course research, labor market, sociology of education as well as family sociology. By the end of the undergraduate program, students have the opportunity to write their final thesis within one of these areas.

During the graduate program, students can deepen their focus in these research areas in courses covering data analysis as well as social stratification analysis. Furthermore, students can design and conduct their own empirical research project as part of a three-term research seminar. Previous research seminars included an investigation about life-courses of graduates of the Department of Sociology in Tübingen. By the end of the graduate program, we offer students supervision of their final thesis within the key research area.