The session aims at exploring which research methods are appropriate for approaching space in the social sciences, seeing space either as dependent or independent variable: Researchers can ask how people think about space and construct space or they can see space as a relevant frame for social action that influences social life. Papers address one of the questions below either at a more general methodological level or using a concrete example in a specific research project: (1) Which qualitative and/or quantitative methods are best suited for which kind of theoretical problems? (2) What methodological innovations concerning the spatial can be observed? (How) can traditional sociological or geographical methods be adjusted to address spatial problems within sociology? (3) Which sampling strategies are appropriate for spatial problems? (4) What are the specific data requirements for spatial analysis, and how can these data be collected? (5) Which strategies of data analysis are appropriate for spatial analysis?
Nina BAUR, Department of Sociology, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany and Cornelia THIERBACH, Department of Sociology, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
