"Spatial Methods" and "Tracing the City. Methods of Analysing Urban Structures and Transformations".
Sessions at the 8th International Conference on Social Science Methodology (Sydney, Australia, July 9 - July 13, 2012).

Deadline for Submission: 1 December 2001

Please find below a detailed notice regarding these sessions below.

1)
Spatial Methods
Session Convenors: Nina Baur and Cornelia Thierbach, Technical University Berlin

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 should address one of the questions below either at a more general methodological level or using a concrete example in a specific research project:

- Which qualitative and/or quantitative methods are best suited for which kind of theoretical problems?
- What methodological innovations concerning the spatial can be observed?
- (How) can traditional sociological or geographical methods be adjusted to address spatial problems within sociology?
- Which sampling strategies are appropriate for spatial problems?
- What are the specific data requirements for spatial analysis, and how can these data be collected?
- Which strategies of data analysis are appropriate for spatial analysis?

The session takes place at the
8th International Conference on Social Science Methodology (The University of Sydney, Sydney Australia, Monday July 9 - Friday July 13, 2012).

The call for abstracts of papers is open until December 1, 2011.

Abstracts will only be accepted through the online submission form, and submission in any other form will not be accepted (instructions will be on the conference website). Session convenors or the conference organisers will inform you of your abstract acceptance by December 19, 2011 and registrations will open on that date. The conference website provides information about the conference, including key dates and deadlines, and submission guidelines. You can sign up for regular updates and news about the conference on the website.

Conference Web site: http://rc33conference2012.acspri.org.au
Please direct any queries to: rc33conference@acspri.org.au

2)
Tracing the City. Methods of Analysing Urban Structures and Transformations Session Convenors: Anna Laura Quermann, Technical University Darmstadt, and Linda Hering, Technical University Berlin

The city is a special kind of space where people meet (to live, work, go shopping etc.). As part of the industrial revolution cities became centres of innovation and progress but also for social and spatial inequality as well as places where ethical and racial differences clash. The specific density of heterogeneous inhabitants and spaces make the urban structure an interesting field of research for social scientists. Over time many sociologists (e.g. Henri Lefebvre or fellows of the Chicago School) worked on exploring the structures of cities by using a wide range of data such as historical documents, interviews, maps, statistical data and observations.

The session aims to discuss the empirical methods to research cities. Potential topics should therefore address one or more of the following questions:

- Which are appropriate methods to analyse cities?
- Which data are suitable for which kind of research questions and how can they be collected? How valid are results drawn from different kind of data?
- When and why is it useful to use a mixed-method or multi-method approach?
- And which data collection and analysing methods fit best? What are the challenges which researcher are faced with then?

Papers debating general methodological questions and papers discussing specific problems using a concrete data type in a specific research project are both equally welcome.

The session takes place at the
8th International Conference on Social Science Methodology (The University of Sydney, Sydney Australia, Monday July 9 - Friday July 13, 2012).

The call for abstracts of papers is open until December 1, 2011.

Abstracts will only be accepted through the online submission form, and submission in any other form will not be accepted (instructions will be on the conference website). Session convenors or the conference organisers will inform you of your abstract acceptance by December 19, 2011 and registrations will open on that date. The conference website provides information about the conference, including key dates and deadlines, and submission guidelines. You can sign up for regular updates and news about the conference on the website.

Conference Web site: http://rc33conference2012.acspri.org.au
Please direct any queries to: rc33conference@acspri.org.au