Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Article (3)
- Postprint (3)
- Monograph/Edited Volume (2)
- Part of a Book (1)
- Master's Thesis (1)
- Other (1)
Keywords
- methodology (11) (remove)
Institute
- Sonderforschungsbereich 632 - Informationsstruktur (2)
- Sozialwissenschaften (2)
- Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften (2)
- Department Sport- und Gesundheitswissenschaften (1)
- Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik (1)
- Institut für Informatik und Computational Science (1)
- Institut für Physik und Astronomie (1)
- Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien e. V. (1)
This chapter presents an overview of Cognitive Sociolinguistic studies of African English. We discuss early applications of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to the study of English in Cameroon (Wolf 1999, 2001; Wolf and Simo Bobda 2001) as well as the extensive and methodologically diverse body of Cognitive Sociolinguistic research on the cultural model of COMMUNITY expressed in West and East African English (e.g., Wolf 2006, 2008; Wolf and Polzenhagen 2007; Polzenhagen and Wolf 2007; Polzenhagen 2007). Moreover, the chapter illustrates how studies such as Finzel and Wolf (2017), Peters (2021), Finzel (forthcoming) and Peters and Polzenhagen (2021) extend the Cognitive Sociolinguistic approach to further sociocultural issues, such as gender identities and culture-specific strategies of advertising in different anglophone parts of Africa. Finally, we point out possible future applications of the paradigm to socio-pragmatic aspects of African English.
As national efforts to reduce CO2 emissions intensify, policy-makers need increasingly specific, subnational information about the sources of CO2 and the potential reductions and economic implications of different possible policies. This is particularly true in China, a large and economically diverse country that has rapidly industrialized and urbanized and that has pledged under the Paris Agreement that its emissions will peak by 2030. We present new, city level estimates of CO2 emissions for 182 Chinese cities, decomposed into 17 different fossil fuels, 46 socioeconomic sectors, and 7 industrial processes. We find that more affluent cities have systematically lower emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), supported by imports from less affluent, industrial cities located nearby. In turn, clusters of industrial cities are supported by nearby centers of coal or oil extraction. Whereas policies directly targeting manufacturing and electric power infrastructure would drastically undermine the GDP of industrial cities, consumption based policies might allow emission reductions to be subsidized by those with greater ability to pay. In particular, sector based analysis of each city suggests that technological improvements could be a practical and effective means of reducing emissions while maintaining growth and the current economic structure and energy system. We explore city-level emission reductions under three scenarios of technological progress to show that substantial reductions (up to 31%) are possible by updating a disproportionately small fraction of existing infrastructure.
Mixed methods approaches have become increasingly relevant in social sciences research over the last few decades. Nevertheless, we show that these approaches have rarely been explicitly applied in higher education research. This is somewhat surprising because mixed methods and empirical research into higher education seem to be a perfect match for several reasons: (1) the role of the researcher, which is associated with strong intersections between the research subject and the research object; (2) the research process, which relies on concepts and theories that are borrowed from other research fields; and (3) the research object, which exhibits unclear techniques in teaching and learning, making it difficult to grasp causalities between input and results. Mixed methods approaches provide a suitable methodology to research such topics. Beyond this, potential future developments underlining the particular relevance of mixed methods approaches in higher education are discussed.
Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung durchzieht immer mehr Lebensbereiche und führt zu immer komplexeren sozio-technischen Systemen. Obwohl diese Systeme zur Lebenserleichterung entwickelt werden, können auch unerwünschte Nebeneffekte entstehen. Ein solcher Nebeneffekt könnte z.B. die Datennutzung aus Fitness-Apps für nachteilige Versicherungsentscheidungen sein. Diese Nebeneffekte manifestieren sich auf allen Ebenen zwischen Individuum und Gesellschaft. Systeme mit zuvor unerwarteten Nebeneffekten können zu sinkender Akzeptanz oder einem Verlust von Vertrauen führen. Da solche Nebeneffekte oft erst im Gebrauch in Erscheinung treten, bedarf es einer besonderen Betrachtung bereits im Konstruktionsprozess. Mit dieser Arbeit soll ein Beitrag geleistet werden, um den Konstruktionsprozess um ein geeignetes Hilfsmittel zur systematischen Reflexion zu ergänzen.
In vorliegender Arbeit wurde ein Analysetool zur Identifikation und Analyse komplexer Interaktionssituationen in Software-Entwicklungsprojekten entwickelt. Komplexe Interaktionssituationen sind von hoher Dynamik geprägt, aus der eine Unvorhersehbarkeit der Ursache-Wirkungs-Beziehungen folgt. Hierdurch können die Akteur*innen die Auswirkungen der eigenen Handlungen nicht mehr überblicken, sondern lediglich im Nachhinein rekonstruieren. Hieraus können sich fehlerhafte Interaktionsverläufe auf vielfältigen Ebenen ergeben und oben genannte Nebeneffekte entstehen. Das Analysetool unterstützt die Konstrukteur*innen in jeder Phase der Entwicklung durch eine angeleitete Reflexion, um potenziell komplexe Interaktionssituationen zu antizipieren und ihnen durch Analyse der möglichen Ursachen der Komplexitätswahrnehmung zu begegnen.
Ausgehend von der Definition für Interaktionskomplexität wurden Item-Indikatoren zur Erfassung komplexer Interaktionssituationen entwickelt, die dann anhand von geeigneten Kriterien für Komplexität analysiert werden. Das Analysetool ist als „Do-It-Yourself“ Fragebogen mit eigenständiger Auswertung aufgebaut. Die Genese des Fragebogens und die Ergebnisse der durchgeführten Evaluation an fünf Softwarentwickler*innen werden dargestellt. Es konnte festgestellt werden, dass das Analysetool bei den Befragten als anwendbar, effektiv und hilfreich wahrgenommen wurde und damit eine hohe Akzeptanz bei der Zielgruppe genießt. Dieser Befund unterstützt die gute Einbindung des Analysetools in den Software-Entwicklungsprozess.
This introductory essay to the HSR Special Issue “Economists, Politics, and Society” argues for a strong field-theoretical programme inspired by Pierre Bourdieu to research economic life as an integral part of different social forms. Its main aim is threefold. First, we spell out the very distinct Durkheimian legacy in Bourdieu’s thinking and the way he applies it in researching economic phenomena. Without this background, much of what is actually part of how Bourdieu analysed economic aspects of social life would be overlooked or reduced to mere economic sociology. Second, we sketch the main theoretical concepts and heuristics used to analyse economic life from a field perspective. Third, we focus on practical methodological issues of field-analytical research into economic phenomena. We conclude with a short summary of the basic characteristics of this approach and discuss the main insights provided by the contributions to this special issue.
This is the 15th issue of the working paper series Interdisciplinary Studies on Information Structure (ISIS) of the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 632. This online version contains the Questionnaire on Focus Semantics contributed by Agata Renans, Malte Zimmermann and Markus Greif, members of Project D2 investigating information structural phenomena from a typological perspective. The present issue provides a tool for collecting and analyzing natural data with respect to relevant linguistic questions concerning focus types, focus sensitive particles, and the effects of quantificational adverbs and presupposition on focus semantics. This volume is a supplementation to the Reference manual of the Questionnaire on Information Structure, issued by Project D2 in ISIS 4 (2006).
This is the 15th issue of the working paper series Interdisciplinary Studies on Information Structure (ISIS) of the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 632. This online version contains the Questionnaire on Focus Semantics contributed by Agata Renans, Malte Zimmermann and Markus Greif, members of Project D2 investigating information structural phenomena from a typological perspective. The present issue provides a tool for collecting and analyzing natural data with respect to relevant linguistic questions concerning focus types, focus sensitive particles, and the effects of quantificational adverbs and presupposition on focus semantics. This volume is a supplementation to the Reference manual of the Questionnaire on Information Structure, issued by Project D2 in ISIS 4 (2006).
Understanding the development of spoken language in young children has become increasingly important for advancing basic theories of language acquisition and for clinical practice. However, such a goal requires refined measurements of speech articulation (e.g., from the tongue), which are difficult to obtain from young children. In recent years though, technological advances have allowed developmental researchers to make significant steps in that direction. For instance, movements of the tongue, an articulator that is essential for spoken language, can now be tracked and recorded in children with ultrasound imaging. This technique has opened novel research avenues in (a)typical language acquisition, enabling researchers to reliably capture what has long remained invisible in the speech of young children. Within this context, we have designed an experimental platform for the recording and the processing of kinematic data: SOLLAR (Sonographic and Optical Linguo-Labial Articulatory Recording system). The method has been tailored for children, but it is suitable for adults. In the present article, we introduce the recording environment developed to record over 100 children and 30 adults within SOLLAR. We then describe SOLLAR’s data processing framework, providing examples of data visualization and a summary of strengths and limitations.
Understanding the development of spoken language in young children has become increasingly important for advancing basic theories of language acquisition and for clinical practice. However, such a goal requires refined measurements of speech articulation (e.g., from the tongue), which are difficult to obtain from young children. In recent years though, technological advances have allowed developmental researchers to make significant steps in that direction. For instance, movements of the tongue, an articulator that is essential for spoken language, can now be tracked and recorded in children with ultrasound imaging. This technique has opened novel research avenues in (a)typical language acquisition, enabling researchers to reliably capture what has long remained invisible in the speech of young children. Within this context, we have designed an experimental platform for the recording and the processing of kinematic data: SOLLAR (Sonographic and Optical Linguo-Labial Articulatory Recording system). The method has been tailored for children, but it is suitable for adults. In the present article, we introduce the recording environment developed to record over 100 children and 30 adults within SOLLAR. We then describe SOLLAR’s data processing framework, providing examples of data visualization and a summary of strengths and limitations.
This paper addresses terrorism trials as sites of research and proposes an approach for the analysis of ethnographic data collected during these trials. The suggested approach offers multi-level analytical access, it centers around interactionist conceptions and knowledge discourses. The conceptual framework we suggest is spelled out in terms of how to observe and being sensitive of (re-)production of power structures inside the courtroom as well as in regard to relations imported into the courtroom. For this purpose, we integrate (i) the micro-level of courtroom interactions and (ii) (self-)presentation, (iii) the meso-level of knowledge (re)production and the establishment of knowledge orders and (iv) an intersectional perspective on gender, race, and class in knowledge discourses. By applying a multi-level approach, we open up new explanatory avenues to understand the constitution of terrorism as a socio-legal object. The methodical framework connects hitherto unconnected elements, that is, participants' interactions and negotiation, their (self-)representations, ascriptions and narrative performances, and knowledge (re-)production in order to establish or maintain political and social orders.
Background: Doping attitude is a key variable in predicting athletes' intention to use forbidden performance enhancing drugs. Indirect reaction-time based attitude tests, such as the implicit association test, conceal the ultimate goal of measurement from the participant better than questionnaires. Indirect tests are especially useful when socially sensitive constructs such as attitudes towards doping need to be described. The present study serves the development and validation of a novel picture-based brief implicit association test (BIAT) for testing athletes' attitudes towards doping in sport. It shall provide the basis for a transnationally compatible research instrument able to harmonize anti-doping research efforts.
Method: Following a known-group differences validation strategy, the doping attitudes of 43 athletes from bodybuilding (representative for a highly doping prone sport) and handball (as a contrast group) were compared using the picture-based doping-BIAT. The Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS) was employed as a corresponding direct measure in order to additionally validate the results.
Results: As expected, in the group of bodybuilders, indirectly measured doping attitudes as tested with the picture-based doping-BIAT were significantly less negative (eta(2) = .11). The doping-BIAT and PEAS scores correlated significantly at r = .50 for bodybuilders, and not significantly at r = .36 for handball players. There was a low error rate (7%) and a satisfactory internal consistency (r(dagger dagger) = .66) for the picture-based doping-BIAT.
Conclusions: The picture-based doping-BIAT constitutes a psychometrically tested method, ready to be adopted by the international research community. The test can be administered via the internet. All test material is available "open source". The test might be implemented, for example, as a new effect-measure in the evaluation of prevention programs.