Publications

This article provides an overview of the steps required to implement a cross-national survey of higher education students. Discussing the challenges and potential errors involved when drawing upon a total survey error framework, it provides examples based on insights into the EUROSTUDENT project. The article thus highlights aspects to be considered for comparative, cross-cultural student surveys and offers practical recommendations that can help mitigate survey errors and promote the effective implementation of comparative student surveys.

Because retrospective collection of life history data requires respondents to retrieve and provide complex information, the process is highly demanding for respondents and prone to error. While a standard questionnaire does not align well with the structure of autobiographical memory, the use of a life history calendar (LHC) may facilitate cognitive processes and reduce response burden. It is unclear, however, whether LHCs yield favourable effects in self-administered mixed-device surveys. To clarify the effects of LHCs, we developed a survey on educational and occupational trajectories in a highly educated population. The survey included an experimental variation using a responsive LHC.

Der Beitrag illustriert Konstruktionsprinzipien, Potenziale und Fallstricke von Vignettenexperimenten anhand eines faktoriellen Surveyexperiments zur Bedeutung soziodemografscher und meritokratischer Merkmale beim Zugang zur Professur. Im Rahmen des Surveyexperiments wurden alle Universitätsprofessor*innen der Germanistik, Soziologie, Politikwissenschaft, Geographie und Chemie in Deutschland eingeladen, Vignettenprofile hypothetischer Wissenschaftler*innen auf ihre Eignung für unbefristete Professuren hin zu beurteilen. Anhand dieser Beispielanwendung veranschaulicht der Beitrag die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen von Vignettenexperimenten mit Blick auf die Validität der erzielten Ergebnisse.

This review of the transparency literature has shown the evolution of the field through the prism of bibliographic and methodological data. In doing so, we have shed light into underlying disparities that go in line with arguments of structural problems and historical relations in socio-political contexts. We have highlighted the irony of the field in researching a topic that, due to determinants beyond the control of scholars (though OA policies may slowly generate a structural change), is in itself little transparent. The blurriness of the state of research in transparency and accountability helps us to address the overall debate of academic production in a critical manner, engaging with issues such as publishing and funding.