The next FORS lunch seminars will take place on January 14, 2025.

For more information, please visit our website FORS Lunch seminars | FORS (forscenter.ch)

Dear all,

We are pleased to invite you to the next Methods and Research Meeting organized by FORS and SSP/UNIL. It will take place in room 5779 at Géopolis building, University of Lausanne on Tuesday 26th November 2024 from 12:15 to 13:30.

We welcome Joshua Yang from the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences. Computational Social Science at ETH Zurich.

He will give a presentation on the following topic:

LLM Voting: Human Choices and AI Collective Decision-Making

Abstract

AI is increasingly shaping our democratic decisions. While AI-generated content can mislead voters, there are also efforts to explore whether AI can support human decision-making, such as through summarisation, recommendation, or compensating for human biases. Our research, here at the Computational Social Science lab in ETH Zurich, delves into this reality from a social choice perspective, exploring how incorporating large language models (LLM) like GPT-4 into our democratic process could influence democracy. The methodologies used in this research include participatory budgeting experiments in which human participants and AI models were asked to allocate resources using various voting methods, such as approval voting, ranked voting, and cumulative voting. Additionally, persona construction and chain-of-thought prompting were employed to understand how AI models like GPT-4 make decisions under different contextual influences.
The results provide insights into the dynamics of how LLM interacts with voting methods, affects representation, and even risks narrowing democratic diversity. AI holds promise for supporting decision-making and improving voter engagement, but how can we ensure that AI contributes positively to democratic values? What role should it play as we continue to navigate its impact on our society? These are questions we must address before we can harness AI’s potential in democratic processes.

We look forward to this presentation.

The organizing committee:

Jacques-Antoine Gauthier 

Oliver Lipps

Davide Morselli

Stephanie Steinmetz

https://forscenter.ch/events-training/methods-and-research-meetings/

Advanced skills for research data management and open science in the social sciences

Elevate your research in today’s data-driven world by gaining critical skills in Research Data Management (RDM) and Open Science. This program, led by experts from the Università della Svizzera italiana, the University of Lausanne and FORS, offers two options to fit your needs:

On the campus of Lugano: Immerse yourself in a dynamic learning environment (25th-29th November 2024, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano).
Online: This course already took place between the 26th-30th August 2024  and on the 9th September 2024.

Gain the knowledge and tools to:

• Manage your research data effectively throughout its lifecycle.
• Understand and apply FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) for data quality and sharing.
• Develop a robust Data Management Plan (DMP) tailored to your research project.
• Navigate data ethics and privacy considerations to ensure responsible research practices.
• Implement data security measures and explore long-term storage solutions.
• Leverage data sharing and open science practices to maximise research impact and collaboration.
• Foster reproducible research through best practices in data documentation and citation.

This immersive experience goes beyond theory, providing practical exercises and workshops to directly apply your learnings to your ongoing research. Bring your own data (or research ideas) and actively engage with instructors and peers (on-campus) or fellow online participants.

Gain a competitive edge by enhancing your research efficiency, publication potential, and collaboration skills.

Course fee: CHF 500.-

Limited spots available!

More information and registration

The CNES Seminar Series casts a spotlight on different National Election Studies that share their experiences in designing and conducting election studies.

Participation is free and open to everyone interested in the practices and methodological aspects of electoral research.

Third edition: “Online Panels in National Election Studies: Opportunities and Challenges”

12th of November 2024, 16:00-17:30 (UTC/GMT +1)

PROGRAMME

Chair: Ana Espirito-Santo, Portuguese Electoral Behaviour Programme (CEP)

Participation is free but registration is mandatory. The deadline for registration is November 8, 2024.
Howerer you can  register here.

Further information on CNES: https://www.cnes.community/

Martina Rothenbühler is Scientific Program Manager and Data Protection Officer at the Diabetes Center Berne (DCB). The DCB is a private, independent Swiss foundation that aims to improve the lives of people with diabetes.

She will give a presentation on the following topic:

Clinical development using innovative trial designs and mixed methods

In diabetes research, the emergence of innovative clinical trial designs is closely linked to the growing availability of continuous health data from medical devices, such a continuous glucose measurement systems and insulin pumps, enabling more dynamic, real-world insights and personalized approaches in clinical research.

At Diabetes Center Berne, we are dedicated to simplifying life with diabetes, leveraging innovative trial designs to advance clinical solutions that address key unmet needs identified by the diabetes community. Our approach will be presented using a case study, from definition of a research question based on inputs from women with type 1 diabetes until the proposed implementation into the algorithm of a medical device.

Location: UNIL, Géopolis, Room 5621, from 12:45 to 13:45

To stay up to date concerning the FORS Lunch Seminars, check our website: https://forscenter.ch/events-training/fors-lunch-seminars/

The conference takes place on October 7 to 9, 2024 at Villa Vigoni, Italy.

The theme of this year’s conference is

Fears, Worries and Anxieties in Contemporary Europe. Is there a societal climate change and what are the consequences for quality of life?

The deadline for the call for papers has passed. Information on this year’s conference can be found here: https://forscenter.ch/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/call-for-papers_villavigoni-conference_2024.pdf

Conference committee: Jeroen Boelhouwer (SCP, The Hague), Peter Farago (formerly FORS, Lausanne), Laura Kestilä, (National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsiniki), Tadas Leončikas (Eurofound, Dublin), Heinz-Herbert Noll (formerly GESIS, Mannheim), Christian Suter (University Neuchâtel), István György Tóth (TARKI, Budapest).

For information on previous conferences see: https://www.tarki.hu/villa-vigoni-conferences.

Supporting institutions:

Am 4. & 5. September 2024 findet das 10. Schweizer Methodenfestival für qualitative Forschungsmethoden in St. Gallen statt. In insgesamt 15 Forschungsateliers können sich Interessierte über den aktuellen Stand verschiedener Methoden informieren und ihre Fragen sowie teilweise auch ihre eigenen Projekte mit ausgewiesenen Expertinnen und Experten diskutieren.

Am Methodenfestival sind qualitative Sozialforschende aus der Schweiz als auch aus dem Ausland willkommen.

Programm und weitere Informationen: 

https://qualitative-research.ch/10-schweizer-methodenfestival/

Anmeldung: ab 13. April 2024 um 12.00 Uhr (first come first serve)

Anmeldungsschluss: 1. Mai 2024 (Mitternacht)

We are looking forward to welcoming you for two weeks of learning in August at the beautiful campus of Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano!

The next SHP workshop will take place in Lausanne between June 4^th and June 7^th, 2024.

On June 4^th, 2024, the SHP-team will give an introduction to the Swiss Household Panel study and data management with SPSS. We will present the structure of the SHP and the organization of the SHP data files. In hands-on sessions, we will construct several data files that will help analyze SHP data.
Participation in this workshop is free of charge.

Between June 5^th and 7^th, 2024, Prof. Matthias Studer, Prof. Emer. Gilbert Ritschard and Dr. Kevin Emery from the University of Geneva will give a course on sequence data analysis. Participation in this workshop costs 250.- CHF.

You will find more information and the prerequisites here.

The registration is now closed.

Les Enquêtes fédérales auprès de la jeunesse ch-x sont une institution du Département fédéral de la défense, de la protection de la population et des sports (DDPS). Depuis 1971, elles renseignent sur la situation des jeunes adultes en Suisse dans les domaines suivants:

• Éducation, formation et entrée dans la vie professionnelle
• Valeurs, objectifs de vie, conditions de vie en général ainsi que positionnement et compétences politiques
• Santé et sport

Les ch-x réalisent chaque année des enquêtes représentatives auprès de jeunes adultes des deux genres dans toute la Suisse. Ces enquêtes sont généralement menées par des instituts universitaires. Elles s’étendent sur un cycle de deux ans et couvrent tous les jeunes conscrits du pays (majoritairement âgés de 19 ans) ainsi qu’un important échantillon de femmes (environ 12 000 par année) non soumises à l’obligation de servir et également âgées de 19 ans, ce qui représente jusqu’à 40 000 personnes par an.

Pour l’enquête 2026/2027, les ch-x sont à la recherche d’un chercheur/d’une chercheuse qui réalisera le projet sur la base d’un concept qu’il/elle aura développé dans le cadre des directives ch-x.

Délai: 15 avril 2024

Informations détaillées sur le projet

We are delighted to inform you about a series of dedicated sessions scheduled for the Love Data Week Switzerland, taking place from the 12th to the 16th of February 2024.

In the Love Data Week Switzerland, we are eager to highlight specific workshops that offer valuable insights into data management practices. These sessions are meticulously curated to address the needs of researchers seeking to enhance their understanding of data publication and sharing.

All talks: https://www.zhbluzern.ch/love-data-week

Tuesday, 13 February

How to Publish Data on the Language Repository of Switzerland (LaRS)
09:30 – 10:00 CET
Zoom, Talk in English
This event introduces the Language Repository of Switzerland (LaRS), powered by SWISSUbase. It is aimed at researchers in the field of Linguistics who would like to learn in a short tutorial how to publish their data on the repository in a few simple steps.
-Stefanie Strebel, University of Zurich

Wednesday, 14 February

Publier ses données de recherche sur SWISSUbase en 15 minutes
12:30 – 12:45 CET
Teams, Workshop in French
Destiné aux chercheur.euse de l’Université de Lausanne et de l’Université de Neuchâtel, cet atelier propose une démonstration en ligne du processus de dépôt de données dans SWISSUbase. En fin de démonstration, un temps sera consacré aux questions/réponses.
-Carmen Jambé / Quentin Gallis, Université de Lausanne / Université de Neuchâtel

Sharing social science research data via SWISSUbase
14:00 – 14:30 CET
Zoom, Workshop in English
You love your social science data and plan to share them with researchers but don’t know exactly how that works? Do you want to learn more about sharing sensitive data? Do you have other questions about sharing your social science research data? If so, our mini-workshop is for you. In this mini-workshop, we will give an overview of the services FORS offers and then provide you with a short demonstration of how to deposit social science data via SWISSUbase. In the second part, you will get the chance to ask questions related to sharing your own data and get hands-on advice. If you want to get familiar with SWISSUbase for social science data before, we recommend you watch this video.
-Meret Hildebrandt / Marielle Kappeler / Marieke Heers (FORS

Thursday, 15 February

Discover DataGo: a tool for assessing the shareability of personal and sensitive data
9:30 – 9:45 CET
Zoom (Passcode: 67874682), Workshop in English
DataGo is a new tool for assessing the shareability of personal and sensitive data through an archive. The presentation is targeting social science researchers who have already collected their data as well as anyone involved in the provision of data management support (i.e. data stewards, data librarians, research consultants).
-Pablo Diaz / Alexandra Stam (University of Lausanne / FORS)

International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) and 3D
10:00 – 10:45 CET
Zoom, Talk in English
The use of open standards removes unnecessary barriers and allows for interoperability. IIIF is a set of open standards for delivering digital objects such as images, audios, videos, and 3D data. In this talk I will present the advantages of the IIIF standard and the attempts to define a IIIF standard for 3D objects.
-Rita Gautschy (DaSCH)

The next SSP-FORS Methods and Research Seminar will take place on Tuesday 30th of January 2024 (room 5799 Geopolis 12:15 to 13:30). 

Florian Keusch from the University of Mannheim,will give a presentation on the following topic:

Quality of Digital Behavioral Data

Digital behavioral data that stem from people’s interactions with online systems such as web sites, apps, and wearables are increasingly used in the social sciences to supplement or even substitute traditional survey data. While the hope is that these new type of data provides more detailed information that is less influendes by human social-psychological mechanisms involved in self-reporting, there is still little systematic researcher on their error properties. In this talk, I will present the results of a recent experimental study in Germany that explores the data quality of digital behavioral data from web trackers, apps, and data donation vis a vis survey self-reports.

Florian Keusch is Professor of Social Data Science and Methodology in the Sociology Department, School of Social Sciences at the University of Mannheim, and Adjunct Research Professor in the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland. He studies the quality of digital behavioral data from wearbales, apps, and sensors and how they can complement survey data to better measure attitudes, behaviors, and social interactions.

We look forward to your participation.

The organizing committee:

Jacques-Antoine Gauthier 

Oliver Lipps

Davide Morselli

Stephanie Steinmetz

https://forscenter.ch/events-training/methods-and-research-meetings/

Are you involved in the provision of data management support to social science researchers in Swiss research institutions? Do researchers ask you for advice on how to comply with open data requirements? Are you dealing with questions such as:

• “Do my research materials include personal data?”
• “Can research materials including personal data be shared with other researchers or for teaching?”
• “What are the conditions for sharing research materials including personal data in a data repository?”
• “What are the different options for complying with open data requirements?”

Format: Presentations by FORS and Unil staff members + Q&A sessions
Audience: Support staff, data stewards, librarians, research consultants, anyone involved in the provision of data management support

During this half-day event, the FORS data management support team, in collaboration with the research office of the University of Lausanne, will provide you with practical guidance on how to assess the shareability of research data, including personal and sensitive data, both quantitative and qualitative. The focus of the workshop will be on data that have already been collected, and which are intended to be shared in a data repository, such as SWISSUbase.

Detailed information and registration:  https://forscenter.ch/sharing-personal-data-through-a-data-repository/

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: ISSP USER CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is delighted to announce its second ISSP User Conference, scheduled to be held online on December 4, 2023, and focusing on the topic of Environment. The Call for Abstracts is currently open, with a submission deadline set for October 20, 2023.

Access the call here: Call-for-Abstracts_ISSP-User-Conference.pdf.

For more information about the ISSP, please visit: www.issp.org

The 12th International Conference of Panel Data Users in Switzerland will take place on June 14-15, 2023 at the University of Lausanne.

This edition will include thematic sessions covering a wide variety of topics, such as health and well-being, education and labour market, families, gender, ethnic minorities and migration, politics and attitudes, survey methodology, and longitudinal methods. The program also includes a session on TREE data and one on health literacy using SHARE data.

Consult the scientific programme: https://forscenter.ch/12th-international-conference-of-panel-data-users-in-switzerland/

The registrations are now closed.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the law on advance directives (ADs) in the Swiss Civil Code (2013), the Advance Care Planning (ACP) Dialogue Workshop aims to examine the development, implementation, and use of ACP and ADs in Switzerland over the last ten years by adopting a public health approach. Academic experts from different fields (e.g., medicine, ethics, sociology, psychology, law, economics), professionals involved in ACP promotion and completion, and policy and public health stakeholders are invited to engage in a multidisciplinary exchange of views on the uptake of ACP and ADs in Switzerland, as well as their vision for the future. The workshop will result in a multidisciplinary, holistic, and multilevel picture of the past and current situation of ACP and ADs in Switzerland and the related challenges and recommendations for the future advancement of ACP practice and research. We organize the ACP Dialogue Workshop in collaboration with ACP-Swiss.

Workshop program

Concept

Register for the workshop

This is a public event but the number of places available is limited. Attendees are, therefore, asked to register for the event here:

https://wp.unil.ch/soins-anticipes/registration-form/