Does Germany Need a (New) Research Ethics for the Social Sciences?

This paper evaluates the German, UK, and US approaches to dealing with research ethics in the social sciences. It focuses 1) on the extent to which these research ethic frameworks protect the key rights of research subjects and 2) the extent to to which they take into account the methodology and approaches used in social science and do not simply emulate those of the natural sciences. The U.S. approach stands for a highly regulated, and partly bureaucratic, approach where the ethics review is modeled on the methodology of natural sciences. In the UK, in contrast, a social science research ethics framework has been developed that remedies some of these shortcomings. It is implemented through pressure from funding institutions and aims to respond to the needs of social science research. The German social science ethics framework consists of non-binding codes of conduct, guidelines about good scientific practice, and ethic codes of the German professional associations and funding institutions. We find that ethical behavior in Germany is most typically understood as ethical behavior towards the peers. We recommend the establishment of a new research ethics framework for the social sciences in Germany modeled on the UK's.research ethics, good scientific practice, institutional review boards

Does Germany need a (new) research ethics for the social sciences?

"This paper evaluates the German, UK, and US approaches to dealing with research ethics in the social sciences. It focuses 1) on the extent to which these research ethic frameworks protect the key rights of research subjects and 2) the extent to to which they take into account the methodology and approaches used in social science and do not simply emulate those of the natural sciences. The U.S. approach stands for a highly regulated, and partly bureaucratic, approach where the ethics review is modeled on the methodology of natural sciences. In the UK, in contrast, a social science research ethics framework has been developed that remedies some of these shortcomings. It is implemented through pressure from funding institutions and aims to respond to the needs of social science research. The German social science ethics framework consists of non-binding codes of conduct, guidelines about good scientific practice, and ethic codes of the German professional associations and funding institutions. We find that ethical behavior in Germany is most typically understood as ethical behavior towards the peers. We recommend the establishment of a new research ethics framework for the social sciences in Germany modeled on the UK's." [author's abstract

Datenmanagement und Data Sharing. Erfahrungen in den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften

Die Menge der für Forschungszwecke zur Verfügung stehenden Daten vergrößert sich beständig (King, 2011). Jedoch werden unter Daten in den verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen ganz unterschiedliche Dinge gefasst. Aus dem lateinischen kommend bezeichnet ein Datum zunächst einmal etwas „Gegebenes“. In den Geowissenschaften können Daten Eisbohrkerne sein, aber auch numerische Geokoordinaten. In den Geschichtswissenschaften können Daten das Format alter Dokumente haben. In der Medizin können es auch biologische Proben oder Laborwerte sein. In den quantitativ empirisch arbeitenden Sozial-, Verhaltensund Wirtschaftswissenschaften ist das „gängige“ Format der einschlägigen Daten das von Zahlen als Teil von Datenmatrizen oder Tabellen...

Multi-ethnic genome-wide association study for atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects more than 33 million individuals worldwide and has a complex heritability. We conducted the largest meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for AF to date, consisting of more than half a million individuals, including 65,446 with AF. In total, we identified 97 loci significantly associated with AF, including 67 that were novel in a combined-ancestry analysis, and 3 that were novel in a European-specific analysis. We sought to identify AF-associated genes at the GWAS loci by performing RNA-sequencing and expression quantitative trait locus analyses in 101 left atrial samples, the most relevant tissue for AF. We also performed transcriptome-wide analyses that identified 57 AF-associated genes, 42 of which overlap with GWAS loci. The identified loci implicate genes enriched within cardiac developmental, electrophysiological, contractile and structural pathways. These results extend our understanding of the biological pathways underlying AF and may facilitate the development of therapeutics for AF

Data management and data sharing : Experiences in the social and economic sciences

In den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren eine Kultur des Teilens von Daten (data sharing) durchgesetzt. Das heißt, es sind zunehmend interessante Daten für Forschungszwecke verfügbar; die Herausforderung besteht heute in der Organisation dieser Datenwelt. Archive und Datenzentren fungieren als etablierte Orte des Datenzugangs und werden den unterschiedlichen Anforderungen an Datenschutz und der Erbringung von Serviceleistungen um die Daten herum gerecht. Zusammen bilden sie eine funktionierende Forschungsinfrastruktur, die durchaus einen Modellcharakter aufweist

Die Dokumentation qualitativer Interviews im Rahmen von Organisationsstudien

Gebel T, Liebig S. Die Dokumentation qualitativer Interviews im Rahmen von Organisationsstudien. In: Huschka D, Knoblauch H, Oellers C, Solga H, eds. Forschungsinfrastrukturen. Berlin: Scivero; 2013: 73-90