Science In Germany Research Articles

Citizen Social Science in Germany—cooperation beyond invited and uninvited participation

This article presents an overview of characteristics of Citizen Social Science (CSS) in Germany. CSS is defined as scientific research in the humanities and social sciences, carried out in cooperation between professional and non-professional researchers. The study draws on an online survey and semi-structured interviews with project coordinators and co-researchers. It finds that participatory research activities in the humanities and social sciences are very diverse in their disciplinary traditions and organisational settings. Key features of CSS activities initiated inside as well as outside academic institutions are analysed to understand patterns of participation and cooperation. The results show that CSS activities are frequently realised in heterogeneous consortia of academic and non-academic partners. These consortia influence interactions between professional and non-professional researchers. To investigate these observations further, the article extends the analytical gaze from participation of individual volunteers to various forms of cooperation in consortia. This shift in attention brings to sight additional actors and activities that are usually not, or only marginally, considered in discussions about C(S)S. Staff of civil society organisations, municipalities, schools or cross-sectoral initiatives as well as university students are involved in making CSS work. In addition to research tasks, CSS rests on science communication, project management and intermediation activities. This extended perspective captures more diverse constellations of knowledge production in participatory research in the social sciences and humanities than the common focus on participation. In this way, the article aims to lay the groundwork for understanding the functioning of CSS beyond aspects described by the concept of invited and uninvited participation. It shows that CSS activities are not limited to capacitating lay people for participation in science. A more adequate description is that such projects are concerned with facilitating cooperation with co-researchers and other partners in consortia inside and outside of academia. On this basis, the article introduces the notion of cooperation capacity as a heuristic device to propose new prompts for research on CSS as well as for supporting CSS practice.

Reforms and Reformers on the Question of the Causes, Features and Results of the State-Legal Transformation of Prussia at the Beginning of the 19th Century

This study aims to analyze and provide a historical and legal assessment of administrative, economic, and social transformations in Prussia in the first half of the 19th century to study the circumstances and conditions of the formation of a new political, legal, and economic reality of the country. Moreover, the role of specific personalities who made a mark in history during this period is explored to obtain an idea of what administrative, legal, and economic patterns they reshaped in the management system. The author focuses not on the transformations but on the personalities whose hands have produced those transformations (an objective series of events) in Prussian Germany. Reformers-researchers (first, Stein, Gardenberg, V. Humboldt) realized their own private interest, but the totality of personal interests was already of public interest, and they themselves acted as its subjects. The success of the reformation was also determined by the prevailing atmosphere in the country, which was filled with great philosophers, historians, and writers with their ideas and deeds. The author concludes that science in Germany was more than science. She actively participated in the process of transformation in the country.
 The author proves that the Prussian reformation, despite the different ideas of the participants about its goals, objectively contributed to the creation of the foundations of the bourgeois state on the basis of the monarchical form of government. As a legacy of the reformation stage, the Prussian statehood created in the second half of the 19th century was passed into the hands of Otto von Bismarck. Thus, it was not Bismarck who paved the way for Hitler. The reformers handed him a state building almost built according to their schemes which even the iron chancellor could not rebuild. In addition, we must consider that the modernization of Prussia developed in opposition to the counter-reformation, its legal expression was the so-called Carlsbad resolutions, which decelerated the dynamics of reforms.

A useful science: Criminal interrogation and the turn to psychology in Germany around 1800.

This article argues that psychology gained prestige as a useful and practical science in Germany in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Focusing on discussions of the practice of criminal interrogation, the article shows that around 1800, legal scholars increasingly turned to psychology as a solution to practical problems of criminal justice that had arisen with the abolition of judicial torture. Whereas up to the eighteenth century most German legal scholars had found that their own "experience" sufficed to advise on interrogations, around 1800 they started to point out the necessity of psychological knowledge. Psychology hence became not only a field with specialists, journals, and courses but also a field of knowledge that people turned to to solve problems in wholly different areas.

Empowering entrepreneurship competences through socialization of educational entrepreneurship for elementary school teachers in Jakarta

Partner of this international collaboration of community service is Konstanz University of Applied Sciences in Germany, Prof. Dr. Christian von Lübke, to be invited to collaborate in giving socialization about educational entrepreneurship for elementary school teachers in the province of Jakarta Indonesia. The target of this community service is elementary school teachers in the Province of Jakarta Indonesia. The socialization of educational entrepreneurship for elementary school teachers was done to develop entrepreneurship competences of elementary school teachers in the Province of Jakarta Indonesia, the solution undertaken was socialization of educational entrepreneurship. The methods used in conducting this international collaboration of community service were cooperative learning, problem-based learning, and giving assignments. This socialization was conducted through video conferences in the form of learning activities to improve the competence in educational entrepreneurship for elementary school teachers in the province of Jakarta Indonesia. The socialization of educational entrepreneurship given is related to developing entrepreneurial interest with appropriate learning activity programs. This international collaboration of community service was conducted at elementary schools in the Province of Jakarta Indonesia because those elementary schools are regularly empowered by Universitas Negeri Jakarta. Based on evaluation measurement, teachers’ interest in entrepreneurship education reached 86,75 % and the average satisfaction level of participants were 94%.

International Opportunities in Higher Education Promoted by the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of A Three-Country Teaching-Learning Experience

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges and opportunities to teaching in higher education. The sudden pivot from in-person to online education posed unprecedented challenges to both teachers and students. At the same time, the sudden worldwide suspension of traditional ways of lecturing opened a space for experiments with innovative pedagogic approaches and techniques, including various forms of real-time inter-university exchange and student cooperation. COVID-19 pandemic caused a sudden and disruptive shift to emergency remote learning and teaching, as well as a simultaneous halt to international mobility of students, faculty and staff. These changes to established modes of teaching and learning in higher education along with the de facto end of all international mobility efforts led global health course directors from York University in Canada and Fulda University of Applied Sciences in Germany to establish a globally networked learning environment involving shared virtual lectures and international collaborative group projects. Students reported benefits of an enriched learning experience through the sharing of different perspectives, approaches and debates with international professors and peers. Coordination relating to time differences and expectations played a key role in success and overcoming challenges for collaboration among students. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that cross-border inter-university teaching and learning is a feasible and beneficial pedagogic option.

Measuring the time spent on data curation

PurposeBudgeting data curation tasks in research projects is difficult. In this paper, we investigate the time spent on data curation, more specifically on cleaning and documenting quantitative data for data sharing. We develop recommendations on cost factors in research data management.Design/methodology/approachWe make use of a pilot study conducted at the GESIS Data Archive for the Social Sciences in Germany between December 2016 and September 2017. During this period, data curators at GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences documented their working hours while cleaning and documenting data from ten quantitative survey studies. We analyse recorded times and discuss with the data curators involved in this work to identify and examine important cost factors in data curation, that is aspects that increase hours spent and factors that lead to a reduction of their work.FindingsWe identify two major drivers of time spent on data curation: The size of the data and personal information contained in the data. Learning effects can occur when data are similar, that is when they contain same variables. Important interdependencies exist between individual tasks in data curation and in connection with certain data characteristics.Originality/valueThe different tasks of data curation, time spent on them and interdependencies between individual steps in curation have so far not been analysed.

Technical capabilities of Business Intelligence Systems in South African medium to large organisations

Companies are putting in place systems that might assist in attaining their business goals and vision to improve the running of their business processes. Companies are looking at Business Intelligence (BI) as a means to attain a competitive edge over competitors, predict future trends, improve strategic decision making, facilitate quick and reliable decision making, or make the day-to-day running of business easier. The study looks at the perspective of middle to top management on the context of BI, with main focus on the technical capabilities of BI within medium to large companies in South Africa. To obtain factors relevant to the South African business context, an online survey was conducted with various sectors of South African industry. The study is part of research conducted collaboratively by the University of the Western Cape and Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences in Germany. It focuses on exploring usage of Business Intelligence Systems (BIS) together with Corporate Performance. Online surveys were conducted that targeted medium to large companies in Germany and South Africa by questioning middle to top management on issues surrounding BIS and Corporate Performance. On this basis online survey approach was taken to ensure required number of participants would be covered and approached. Therefore, the research adopted stratified sample method for the online survey. Stratified sampling enabled the expansion of the research by gathering and collaborating participants responses on the research question and eliminate the possibilities of unreliable sample from large population.

Diversity in the teachers’ lounge in Germany – casting doubt on the statistical category of ‘migration background’

Teachers with so-called migration backgrounds are often assumed to possess higher intercultural competencies or skills for more adequately dealing with migration-related diversity than other teachers. However, these assumptions of higher intercultural competencies, specific pedagogical orientations and attitudes have rarely been systematically empirically examined. On the other hand, such a utilitarian ethnicization is increasingly criticized by migration researchers in educational science in Germany as furthering stigmatization and deprofessionalization. Against this background, our paper aims to contribute to the lively discourse about teacher with so-called migration backgrounds. We start with analysing teacher data from the German National Education Panel Study (NEPS). Our analyses indicate that teachers with and without so-called migration backgrounds do not differ significantly in most respects. These findings led us to methodological considerations with regard to the (non-)usefulness of the statistical category of ‘migration background’ in educational migration research.

Quantitative Studies of Science in Germany

Quantitative Studies of Science in Germany

Ein kritischer Blick auf Angelika Neuwirths Koranverständnis

Through presentation, analysis and criticism, the research discusses the modern tendency of Qur’anic studies in Europe, which views the Qur’an as a text expressing the community’s culture. This trend is represented in Germany by Professor of Islamic Studies Angelika Neuwirth and her project (Corpus Coranicum) that she launched in 2007 at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in Germany. In her various studies and articles on the Qur’an, Neuwirth tries repeatedly to assert that the Qur’an is not an authored text. She rejects the idea that the Qur’an is attributed only to the Prophet Muhammad, such as representatives of traditional European Qur’anic research have said. For her, the Qur’an is a text that was contributed to by various actors. According to Neuwirth, the community surrounding the Prophet Muhammad plays a very important role. Therefore, Neuwirth does not consider the Qur’an to be a document of one person, but rather a document expressing the culture of the community. According to Neuwirth, the community surrounding Muhammad is considered a Jewish and Christian society. Consequently, the Qur’an contains both Jewish and Christian traditions, which nevertheless were not adopted directly. Rather, the Prophet Muhammad and the community around him had a role in treating them. According to Neuwirth’s view, the Qur’an contains not only Jewish and Christian traditions, but also pagan traditions. According to this understanding, the role of the first community is not limited to discuss with the Prophet, but also to the negative co-authoring of the Qur’an. The group, along with the Prophet Muhammad, participated in the compilation of the Qur’an. From the above, it results that no difference between traditional and modern European research on the Qur’an with regard to understanding the origin of the Qur’an. Neuwirth agrees with representatives of traditional Qur’anic scholarship in denying the Qur’an the divine origin. يناقش البحث من خلال العرض والتحليل والنقد الاتجاه الحديث للدراسات القرآنية في أوروبا الذي ينظر إلى القرآن بوصفه نصا معبرا عن ثقافة المجتمع، ويمثل هذا الاتجاه في ألمانيا أستاذة الدراسات الإسلامية أنجليکا نويفرت ومشروعها (Corpus Coranicum) الذي أطلقته عام 2007 في أکاديمية برلين- براندنبورج للعلوم في ألمانيا. تحاول نويفرت مرارا وتکرارا في أعمالها ومقالاتها المختلفة عن القرآن التأکيد على أن القرآن ليس نصا مؤلفا، فهي ترفض فکرة أن القرآن ينسب إلى النبي محمد فقط، کما يعتقد ممثلو البحوث القرآنية الأوروبية التقليدية. فالقرآن بالنسبة لها نص ساهم في نشأته جهات فاعلة مختلفة. ووفقا لنويفرت لعب المجتمع المحيط بالنبي محمد دورا مهما للغاية. لذلک لا تعتبر نويفرت القرآن وثيقة لشخص واحد، ولکنه وثيقة معبرة عن ثقافة المجتمع. وحسب ما ترى نويفرت فإن المجتمع المحيط بالنبي محمد مجتمع يهودي ومسيحي، ولهذا السبب فالقرآن يحتوي على تقاليد يهودية ومسيحية، والتي مع ذلک لم يتم تبنيها بشکل مباشر، بل کان للنبي محمد والمجتمع من حوله دور في معالجتها. وطبقا لما تراه نويفرت فلا يحتوي القرآن على تقاليد يهودية ومسيحية فقط، بل على تقاليد وثنية أيضا. ووفقا لهذا الفهم، فلا يقتصر دور المجتمع المسلم الأول على المناقشات مع المبلغ (النبي)، بل أيضا على التأليف المشترک السلبي للقرآن، فالجماعة المحيطة بالنبي ساهمت جنبا إلى جنب مع النبي محمد في تأليف القرآن. ومما سبق يتضح أنه لا يوجد فرق بين الأبحاث الأوروبية التقليدية والحديثة حول القرآن فيما يتعلق بفهم أصل أو مصدر القرآن. فتتفق نويفرت مع ممثلي الأبحاث القرآنية التقليدية في نفى الأصل الإلهي عن القرآن.

Enhancing social work education’s diversity-oriented perspective by integrating refugees into higher education: Experiences from the ‘refugee crisis’ in Germany

This note describes how integrating refugees into programs of social work education at universities and universities of applied sciences in Germany influenced the education provided, especially in rural areas where student bodies tend to be homogeneous groups. The refugees enrolled in social work courses changed those mostly homogeneous groups of students not only with their presence but moreover by introducing new perspectives on course content. As the changes prompted shifts in the global mindedness of fellow students and the teaching staff, the quality of the programs was enhanced.

The newsworthiness of the “March for Science” in Germany: comparing news factors in journalistic media and on Twitter

Germany was second in the number of March for Science participants. Applying news value theory, this article analyzes the newsworthiness of the 2018 March for Science in Germany, comparing journalistic (online) reporting on the march (N=86) and Twitter communication about #marchforscience (N=591). The results of the content analyses reveal that news factors were more frequent and reached higher intensities in journalistic reporting than on Twitter. Relevance, prominence, personalization, and influence were the news factors most emphasized by journalists. On Twitter, reach was the only news factor correlating with social media engagement (likes, comments, and retweets).

ОРИГІНАЛЬНІ НІМЕЦЬКОМОВНІ ВИДАННЯ ЯК ДЖЕРЕЛО ЗНАНЬ ПРО РОЗВИТОК ПЕДАГОГІЧНОЇ НАУКИ В НІМЕЧЧИНІ В КІНЦІ XIX – НА ПОЧАТКУ XX ст.

The article highlights the role of authentic literary sources in the formation of holistic scientific knowledge about the course of historical and pedagogical process, taking into account social trends and socio-economic conditions of the studied country. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the formation of the source base of historical and pedagogical research allows to ensure the reliability, content and validity of its results. It is emphasized that during the study of the peculiarities of the development of pedagogical science in Germany in the late XIX – beginning of the XX century it is important to form a source base of pedagogical publications in German. The purpose of the article is to update the historical and pedagogical knowledge about the development of pedagogical science in Germany in the late XIX – beginning of the XX century by means of source studies. To achieve the goal of the article, pedagogical publications in German of the late XIX – beginning of the XX century were analyzed in the collection “Publications in foreign languages XVII – beginning of the XX century” of V. O. Sukhomlynskyi State Scientific and Pedagogical Library of Ukraine. The source database was classified according to the formal-semantic principle. This approach made it possible to identify the following groups of sources: 1) authentic works of scientists and teachers; 2) dissertation and monographic research; 3) educational and methodical literature; 4) article publications and conference materials; 5) reference and bibliographic publications, etc.Based on the analysis of the content of pedagogical publications in German in the late XIX – beginning of the XX century of V. O. Sukhomlynskyi State Scientific and Pedagogical Library of Ukraine the following conclusions were made: 1) this historical period was marked by significant reforms in the education system of Germany; 2) the terminology of German pedagogical science and practice is a reflection of social trends that determined the development of education in the country of that time; 3) new branches of pedagogy have developed significantly, new directions and concepts have emerged, in particular: experimental pedagogy, school of action, civic education, useful citizen, labor school, etc.; 4) the late XIX – beginning of the XX century was crucial for the further development of pedagogy as a science, as well as of its individual branches.

The Internationalization of German Marketing Science

In the 1970s, marketing science in Germany was limited to the German-speaking world. My early appeal to publish in English and to change the language of German journals to English met with strong opposition from established professors. Today, 40 years later, a considerable number of German-speaking marketing scientists belong to the international top group in the Hirsch-index ranking. German journals are now publishing in English, but the transition came late, and it will be difficult to acquire A-journal status. In terms of inbound internationalization a lot remains to be done.

Integrating Theory and Praxis in Empirical Missiology

Lectures on contextual theology rightly belong to the standard repertoire of academic training in missiology. While academic lectures on contextual theologies often focus on macro contexts or meso contexts, the concept of the lecture on context analysis at Ewersbach University of Applied Arts strives to focus on the micro context of missionary action. This lecture and the ensuing two-week internship “Missionary social space analysis” take place at the end of the BA programme. This concept leads to an investigation of a concrete micro context, using the methods of empirical social research and social space-oriented action research. The article aims to explore a theory-practice correlation in the training and application of empirical missiology as a practical science in cooperation with an actual local church. The article briefly presents the pedagogical model and the methodology behind this concept and then reflects critically, from a missiological perspective, on the prospects and limits of teaching practical science and action research in the academic setting of a University of Applied Science in Germany and beyond.

Social Science, the Social Question, and the Formation of Elites: German Social Science Student Associations (1890s-1900s)

This article considers the conflicts linking the social question to the social sciences in Germany around 1900 through the analysis of the student associations for social sciences (Sozialwissenschaftliche Studentenvereine). Students did not seek an introduction to social sciences as academic scientific disciplines in particular, which remained loosely autonomous and suffered from heterogeneous definitions and uses. Much more, students looked for a scientific legitimacy for the resolution of the social question, a task that had to be tackled by the elite they felt destined to join. For a large part of university and political authorities, this interest for the social question could only mean socialism. Therefore, they repressed these associations, especially in Prussia, despite their certain attractivity. The history of these associations allows to understand the attempts to redefine the social role of elites as well as the institutionalisation of the social sciences, which turn out to be closely linked.

COVID-19 pandemic providing a window of opportunity for higher education: Case study of a three-country teaching-learning experience

Aim: Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been causing unprecedented challenges to higher education by disrupting traditional face-to-face teaching as well as international mo-bility of students, faculty and staff. The factual knock-out of established modes of teaching and learning and the restriction of international travel called for rapid action and a shift towards remote learning and teaching. Methods: Within the framework of a pragmatic approach, global health faculty from Fulda University of Applied Sciences in Germany and York University in Canada, including a small group of public health students from Cluj in Romania, established a globally networked learning environment. Between November and December 2020, a total of 147 students participated in joint virtual lectures and international collaborative group projects. To capture the ac-ceptance and effectiveness of the innovative didactic experience, a semi-structured student sur-vey was conducted directly after the last session. Results: The overall rating of internet-based cross-university teaching-learning was positive: Students reported benefits of an enriched learning experience through the sharing of different perspectives, approaches and debates with international professors and peers. Success and overcoming challenges for collaboration among students depended strongly on the level of coordination relating to time differences and expectations. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that transnational inter-university teach-ing-learning is feasible, provides a beneficial pedagogic option and points promising ways to the future. © 2021 Poirier et al;.

ВИДАВНИЧА ПРОДУКЦІЯ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ВІЛЬНОЇ АКАДЕМІЇ НАУК (УВАН) У НІМЕЧЧИНІ З ФОНДУ ВІДДІЛУ ЗАРУБІЖНОЇ УКРАЇНІКИ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ БІБЛІОТЕКИ УКРАЇНИ ІМЕНІ В.І. ВЕРНАДСЬКОГО

The study reveals the publications of the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences in Germany that are available in the fund of Foreign Ukrainistics Department of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and represent the process of its formation, activity, development, and the names of scientists whose efforts led to UFAS. Sources of funding the scientific institution and publishing opportunities was found out, and the book description of the documents along with their meaningful content was carried out. A significant number of documents published by UFAS reveal its scientific directions and opportunities. Through the efforts of UFAS in Germany, the scientific world has been replenished with dozens of important works which represent Ukrainian science. The review of UFAS publications was published in a separate series “UFAS Chronicle”, and the publication “UFAS Bulletin” published monthly reports on the activities of the institution. Some groups (sections) prepared their “Collections” for printing. Monographs on current research were being published. The first issue of the bibliographic journal “Ukrainian Bibliological News”, the main topics of which are bibliology, archival science and library science, was published in the series “Bibliography”. The magazine kept records of Ukrainian printed materials in exile, published articles-reviews of UFAS leading scientists, analyzed the history of the magazine and reviews of new books about the figures of the Ukrainian word. Separate editions were published in the same series. An important task of the activities of FUD is to open the fund and popularize the diaspora book culture. The foundations for the further development and activities of UFAS in Canada and the United States were laid precisely in Augsburg, Germany. By organizing a center for the preservation and development of Ukrainian science in Germany, Ukrainian scientists have launched activities to establish strong scientific ties with European scientists and made it possible to integrate Ukrainian science into the world.

Gender differences in higher education in Germany: are women under- or overrepresented at university, and why?

ABSTRACT We study gender differences in the selection of traditional universities versus universities of applied sciences in Germany. Do women, due to life and job goals, less often enrol than men in traditional universities and more often enrol at the more practice- and profession-oriented universities of applied sciences? Or are women overrepresented at traditional universities due to prior educational choices and outcomes such as higher school grades and more frequent choice of non-technical fields of study? Our analyses on a national sample of 1st-year students report a 14-percentage point higher likelihood of women than men to enter traditional universities. This gender gap can almost entirely be attributed to educational factors, specifically women’s less frequent choice of engineering majors, and hardly by job goal preferences. That, net of these factors, no gender difference exists indicates that women in Germany do not aim lower or higher than men as to the institution choice.

Anna Semper (1826–1909) and the female scientist in modern Germany

This article uses the work of Anna Semper (1826–1909) to explore the possibilities for understanding women’s contributions to the development of science in Germany from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. By examining the publications of her husband, the naturalist Carl Semper (1832–1893), as well as those of other scholars, traces of the ways that she produced scientific knowledge begin to emerge. Because the Sempers’ work took place in the context of the Philippines and Palau, two different Spanish colonies, and formed the basis of Carl’s professional career, this article also analyzes Anna’s role in the creation of an explicitly colonial science.