
The next FORS Lunch Seminar will take place on Tuesday, January 16, from 12:45 to 13:45 in Room 5621 (Géopolis).
Robin Benz and Tobias Ackermann (ICER, University of Bern) will give the following presentation:
Disadvantaged by Chance? Cut-off Dates for School Enrolment and Their Consequences for Educational Outcomes
Pupils who did not start learning at the same level as their peers might subsequently fall behind throughout their educational careers (e.g., Heckman 2006; Passaretta et al. 2022). The modalities of compulsory school admission may contribute to the emergence of early gaps in educational performance. Nearly all education systems have arbitrarily chosen cut-off dates for school enrolment, which create age differences of up to a year within a cohort of pupils. Prior research has shown that the youngest pupils in a cohort fall behind their relatively older peers in educational performance (e.g., Bedard and Dhuey 2006; Peña 2017; Dicks and Lancee 2018). These performance gaps are coined as relative age effects, which can be framed within theories of cumulative (dis)advantages (e.g., DiPrete and Eirich 2006).
Drawing on a comprehensive data set encompassing the entire student population in North Western Switzerland (BR NWCH 2021), the study addresses three research questions. First, it is investigated to what extent pupils’ relative age affects their educational achievement in different subjects and track placement in secondary education. Second, by exploiting the longitudinal structure of the data, it is examined whether the influence of relative age diminishes the course of educational trajectories. Third, the study establishes a record linkage between administrative data and pupils’ test data to investigate whether pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds suffer more strongly from relative age effects.
A pupil’s relative age might be correlated with various unobserved factors. Two strategies are employed to address these endogeneity concerns. First, the study employs an instrumental variable approach using “assigned relative age” (e.g., Bedard and Dhuey 2006) as an instrument for pupils’ actual age. Second, the study uses a regression discontinuity design contrasting pupils born just before and after the cut-off date to estimate relative age effects in Switzerland.
Preliminary results provide evidence that students with a relative age advantage when they entered school achieve significantly higher than their counterparts with a relative age disadvantage during their first years of primary education. However, relative age effects vanish the more students advance in their educational trajectory. Additional analyses shed light on potential effect heterogeneity.
The study illustrates how early disadvantages emerge by chance through arbitrarily chosen cut-off dates for school eligibility. Scholars and policy-makers alike are urged to debate how the modalities of school entry can be designed to ensure equal starting conditions for all.
There will be coffee and tea as well as a little dessert. Please bring your cup and join us a few minutes before the start of the seminar to get your drink!
To stay up to date concerning the FORS Lunch Seminars, check our website: https://forscenter.ch/events-training/fors-lunch-seminars/
Join us at Géopolis for this lunch seminar with Robin Benz and Tobias Ackermann (ICER, University of Bern).


Past events

The next SSP-FORS Methods and Research Seminar will take place on Tuesday 28th of November 2023 (room 5799 Geopolis 12:15 to 13:30).
Jana Bernhard from the Computational Communication Science Lab of the University of Vienna will give a presentation on the following topic:
Validating Topic Modeling: Navigating Textual Data Analysis
Abstract:
In an era of abundant textual data, topic modeling has emerged as a powerful tool for uncovering latent themes and patterns within large corpora of text. It promises automated analysis of text data with minimal human supervision. However, the effectiveness of topic modeling hinges on the quality of the results it produces. In the absence of a standardized approach to validating topic models, a plethora of methods, statistics, and thresholds have been developed, creating a multitude of approaches that can be challenging to navigate.
This talk delves into the intricacies of topic modeling with a particular emphasis on the critical aspect of validation. This presentation will provide insights into the methodological challenges and innovative approaches in topic modeling validation by addressing questions such as: How do I select a model amidst pre-processing, hyperparameter tuning, and specifying the number of topics? How can we ensure that the topics we discover are valid and useful for studying our research questions? Is topic modeling a suitable method for my research project?
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/
Jana Bernhard from the Computational Communication Science Lab of the University of Vienna will give a presentation on the following topic: Validating Topic Modeling: Navigating Textual Data Analysis


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/
Are you involved in the provision of data management support to social science researchers in Swiss research institutions? Then register for this free online workshop.


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.
First edition: Implementing mixed-mode surveys
14 November 2023
15:30-17:00 (Central European time, GMT +1)
PROGRAMME
Chair: Eva Heiða Önnudóttir, Icelandic National Election Study (ICENES)
15:30-15:40 | Welcome (Eva Heiða Önnudóttir) |
Åsa von Schoultz, Finnish National Election Study (FNES); Chair of CNES | |
Introduction to CNES | |
15:40-16:00 | Kasper Møller Hansen, Danish National Election Study (DNES) |
Fighting falling response rates. Mixed-mode, incentives, and response time | |
16:00-16:20 | Mikołaj Cześnik, Polish National Election Study (PNES) |
Field research in a rapidly changing social reality – experiences from Poland | |
16:20-17:00 | Discussion and Q&A |
Participation is free but registration is mandatory. The deadline for registration was October 31, 2023.
Howerer you can still register here.
Further information on CNES: https://www.cnes.community/
The CNES Seminar Series casts a spotlight on different National Election Studies that share their experiences in designing and conducting election studies. Free online event.


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 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is delighted to announce its second ISSP User Conference, scheduled for December 4, 2023 around the topic of Environment. Submit your abstract till October 20, 2023.


After a very successful 2022 edition, we are happy to publish the 27th Summer School programme.
The Summer School in Social Science Methods has been conceived for those who feel the need to refresh, deepen and widen their methodological knowledge and skills, whatever their professional situation: student, researcher or practitioner.
Registration for the 27th edition of the Summer School is OPEN NOW and will remain open until all places are filled or until the 14th of July – whichever is sooner.
This year, once again, 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!
Organised by USI and FORS.
The programme of the 27th Summer School in Social Science Methods in Lugano is out now. Registration is open.


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.
This edition includes sessions covering 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.


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:
10 years of advance directives in Switzerland: an interdisciplinary public health perspective on advance care planning


Dear colleagues,
The next FORS Lunch Seminar will take place on Tuesday, March 14, from 12:45 to 13:45 in Room 5899.
During the seminar the winners of the FORS Data Re-use Award 2022 Rita Schmutz (first prize) and Mengling Cheng (second prize) will present their work and receive their awards.
Rita Schmutz (LIVES, University of Lausanne) will present the following project:
Inequality of Educational Opportunity in Switzerland: Exploring Regional Differences and Institutional Factors
Abstract
This study provides estimates of inequality of educational opportunity (IEOp) in compulsory education in Switzerland using the 2016 Swiss large-scale assessments of basic competencies (ÜGK – COFO – VeCoF) dataset. IEOp measures the share of inequality in the distribution of educational performance that can only be attributed to students’ characteristics beyond their control (circumstances), such as their family socioeconomic status (SES), parental education, gender, and immigrant status. By employing a parametric ex-ante estimation approach, I estimate that IEOp in Switzerland is 21%, with considerable heterogeneity across cantons and the German-speaking region showing higher levels of unfair educational inequalities. The IEOp estimates are decomposed to identify the contributions of different circumstances and to develop a better understanding of the observed inequality. Socioeconomic status, parental education, and occupation are the most relevant circumstances in most cantons. Inequality of educational opportunity is associated with the institutional structure of cantonal education systems. Educational inputs in primary school explained most of the cross-canton variation in IEOp, followed by the level of stratification in secondary school.
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Mengling Cheng (LIVES, University of Lausanne) will present the following project:
Evolution of the income-related gap in health with old age: Evidence from 20 countries in European and Chinese panel datasets
(joint work with Nicolas Sommet, Daniela Jopp and Dario Spini)
Abstract
Background: Some studies show that the protective effect of higher income on health weakens with old age (the age-as-leveler pattern), whereas others show that it strengthens with old age (the cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern). Existing studies are limited in that they use single-country and/or single-timepoint designs. To overcome these limitations, we used cross-national and longitudinal data to clarify how the income-related gap in health evolves with old age.
Methods: We used the longest-running European and Chinese panel datasets, namely, SHARE (2004-2019, 73,407 European participants from 19 countries) and CHARLS (2011-2018, 10,067 Chinese participants). We operationalised health using multimorbidity and three alternative indicators (functional disability, mobility disability, and memory). We performed Poisson growth curve modeling to capture the between-participant effects of age and the within-participant effects of aging.
Results: We obtained three consistent findings for both Europe (the effect was observed in most countries) and China. First, the protective effect of higher income on multimorbidity, functional disability, and mobility disability was weaker for older than for younger adults (between-participant age-as-leveler effects). Second, only the protective effect of higher income on mobility disability weakened over the later life course (within-participant age-as-leveler effects). Third, the protective effect of higher income on memory was stronger for older than for younger adults and strengthened over the later life course of the individual (both between-participant and within-participant cumulative advantage/disadvantage effects).
Conclusion: Our results suggest that the income-related gap in physical health (i.e., multimorbidity, functional disability, and mobility disability)—but not in cognitive health (i.e., memory)—narrows in old age for both Europe and China.
There will be coffee and tea as well as a little dessert. Please bring your cup and join us a few minutes before the start of the seminar to get your drink!
Presentations of the projects of the winners, notably Rita Schmutz (LIVES, University of Lausanne) and Mengling Cheng (LIVES, University of Lausanne)


Register for the free online webinar
Introduction to LaRS-SWISSUbase for the Linguistics Community”, that takes place on February 14, 2023 from 15:00-16:00 (CET).
In this webinar, you will learn about the SWISSUbase archiving platform for the linguistics community and the services provided to researchers including data curation, archiving and publishing of your linguistics data.
The session will include a demonstration of the platform and time for questions and answers.
https://newsletter.forscenter.ch/newsletter/index.php/lists/bl638lk4r7ce7/subscribe
Register now for this free online webinar that explains how you can deposit and share your research data in linguistics.


The meeting will take place on Tuesday January, 31, 2023, Room 5799, Géopolis, UNIL, 12:15-13:30.
Who is minding the children? Gender equity in the first two years of the Pandemic



The “Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Research Infrastructures in Switzerland” initiative is piloted by a coordination group consisting of the directors of national research infrastructures (RIs) in the SSH, the national coordinators of international SSH RIs with Swiss participation (CESSDA, CLARIN, DARIAH, ESS, SHARE, GGP) and one representative of the Swiss Academy for the Swiss Academy for Social and Human Sciences (SAGW).
As a follow up to the first event (31 May 2022) and of the position paper (November 2022), the coordination group of this initiative invites the members of the Swiss SSH scientific community interested in research infrastructures to a second event on 18 January 2023.
This meeting has three main objectives.
- First, to raise awareness on the importance of research infrastructure in the SSH domain and how prioritisation and funding works (national and ESFRI roadmap process).
- Second, to share experiences from other countries and the European level on how collaborations between projects and infrastructures work.
- Third, to give a platform to potential new Swiss RIs in the SSH domain in order to reflect on needs of the SSH community and how to create synergies and join forces.
To reach these objectives, we will welcome four invited speakers from abroad (see the updated Programme), who will share their experience of how collaboration and clustering happened successfully in other countries and at the European level. In addition, the floor will also be given to several Swiss projects of RIs in the SSH field with the aim to reflect on user needs and possible synergies. Finally, the day will end with a Round Table with an open discussion, in which invited guests from the SNSF, the SERI, swissuniversities, the SAGW and all members of the audience will have the opportunity to express themselves.
Organizing committee
Prof. Dr. Georg Lutz (FORS)
Dr. Cristina Grisot (DARIAH-CH & CLARIN-CH)
Dr. Elena Chestnova (USI)
Dr. Claire Clivaz (SIB)
Dr. Beat Immenhauser (SAGW)
Further information and registration: https://www.dariah.ch/post/ssh-research-infrastructures-in-switzerland-initiative
The registration for this event is now closed.
The event “Paving the way for the future” will take place at the University of Bern on January 18, 2023.


The workshop “Cognition, decisions and wellbeing in later life” aims to assemble cross-disciplinary perspectives on cognition, decisions and wellbeing and their interplay in later life with invited speakers, contributed talks, and posters.
During this 1.5-day event, we will particularly give emphasis to works using data from the international family of health and retirement studies such as the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) and other sister surveys.
Programme
Full programme in PDF version, with all 22 oral and poster presentations.
On this occasion, we will be delighted to welcome three keynote speakers:
- Prof. Kenneth Langa from the University of Michigan (US)
Expert in epidemiology and costs of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
Associate Director of the HRS, Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) Network Co-Principal Investigator - Prof. David Richter from the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany)
Expert in survey research, aging and wellbeing
International coordinator of the SHARE - Dr. Dorina Cadar from the University of Sussex (UK)
Expert in cognitive epidemiology and dementia
Involved in the implementation of the HCAP in the ELSA
There is no registration fee for this event, but places are limited.
Registrations are open until December 8, 2022.
Practical information
- Dates: December 15 and 16 (until 2:00 pm)
- Location: University of Lausanne, Géopolis building – rooms 2137 and 1620
- Contact: maud.wieczorek@unil.ch
- This is a free event, yet registration is mandatory.
With oral presentations from FORS collaborators: Valérie-Anne Ryser, Clément Meier and Sarah Vilpert.


The next FORS Lunch Seminar will take place on Thursday, December 8, from 12:45 to 13:45 in room 2879 (Géopolis).
The BUNAVIA-team (Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, UZH) will present the following project:
BUNAVIA: Development and Learning in Context
Presenters: Prof. Dr. Laura Bernardi, Prof. Dr. Moritz Daum, Dr. Doris Hanappi, Dr. Martin Kindschi, Prof. Dr. Michael Shanahan
Abstract
Rising social inequality and diminishing returns to education make early investment in children’s different living environments (contexte de vie) – their learning, leisure, and school – increasingly important for their development and well-being. BUNAVIA, a project funded by the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development (UZH), and conducted in collaboration with University of Lausanne and the Department of Education Planning of the Canton of Zurich, investigates the impact of context on child development by studying social networks and the development of identity. It pays particular attention to the perception of autonomy, self-efficacy, and self-regulation during transitional phases, for example, starting school, changes within and between schools. Since Spring 2022, BUNAVIA is part of the Zurich Learning Progress Study (Zürcher Lernverlaufserhebung). Data will be collected via web-based surveys from parents and in-class assessments from the focal child (age 4-5 entering premier cycle primaire/kindergarten,) in the Canton Zurich in Fall 2023. As BUNAVIA plans to propose a parallel study in the canton Vaud, the presentation will give an overview of the project and a summary of its main concepts, research priorities, and data collection design.
Important: There will be coffee and tea as well as a little dessert. Please bring your cup and join us a few minutes before the start of the seminar to get your drink!
Kind regards,
Marieke
The BUNAVIA-team (Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, UZH) investigates the impact of context on child development by studying social networks and the development of identity.


Défis éthiques de la numérisation des données – Cours public
Quels sont les enjeux éthiques et légaux de la collecte des données personnelles ?
Ce cours public aborde les enjeux de la protection de la personne et des données personnelles, ainsi que les impacts qui en résultent pour la recherche en sciences sociales.
Plus d’informations :
Ce cours est gratuit et sans inscriptions.
Mercredi 7 décembre 2022, 18h – 19h30 | Pôle Sud, Lausanne
Ce cours public aborde les enjeux de la protection de la personne et des données personnelles, ainsi que les impacts qui en résultent pour la recherche en sciences sociales. Le cours est gratuit et sans inscriptions.


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 29th of November 2022 from 12:15 to 13:30.
We welcome Marc Asensio Manjon from the University of Lausanne.
He will give a presentation on the following topic:
The feasibility of using data donations to measure mobile media usage
Abstract
Self-reports collected from survey responses have been the most common method to measure online behaviors. However, self-reports on online behaviors, and especially, when such behaviors are fragmented across situations, devices and platforms, are known to contain error due to its cognitively challenging nature. A proposed alternative to these self-reports is the use of direct observations of individuals’ online behaviors. We focus on the ‘Data donations’ approach, a process in which respondents willingly share with researchers data that already has been collected by their devices or platforms they use. Thereby, establishing a transparent and self-administrable dynamic that tracking software procedures do not have.
In this study, we asked members of an online panel (N = 872) to take part in a data donation process by using their own smartphones to access their ‘Digital Wellbeing (Android) / Screentime (IOS)’ tool and share that information with us. The tool allows respondents to check the amount of time they have spent using their smartphone on a daily basis and more specifically, in which apps. Moreover, the tool also displays information on the amount of times the device has been unlocked and the number of notifications received – total and by app. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups; in each of them, we asked respondents to share the same information from their ‘Digital Wellbeing / Screentime’ tool through a different method: 1) taking screenshots; (2) recording a screen video and; (3) checking and reporting the information. We present the challenges associated with the measures’ comparability across devices and operating systems and the preliminary results on task completion and engagement.
We look forward to your participation.
The organizing committee:
Stephanie Steinmetz
Jacques-Antoine Gauthier
Oliver Lipps
Davide Morselli
We welcome Marc Asensio Manjon from the University of Lausanne. The title of his presentation is: The feasibility of using data donations to measure mobile media usage. The seminar will take place at Géopolis at the University of Lausanne on November 29th 2022.


Methods and research meetings
The methods and research meetings offer researchers a plattform to present and discuss their substantive or methodological research raising interesting methodological questions or coming up with new methodological approaches.
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Check out the current programm and past meetings.
FORS Lunch seminar
The FORS lunch seminars are held to foster scholarly exchange between FORS researchers and related researchers to profit from their diverse scientific and cultural backgrounds. Occasionnally researchers from outside of FORS are invited to present their research findings. Currently, all meetings are held online.
The next FORS Lunch Seminar will take place on Tuesday, January 16, 2024 from 12:45 to 13:45 in room 5621 at Géopolis. Robin Benz and Tobias Ackermann (ICER, University of Bern) will give a presentation on the following topic: Disadvantaged by Chance? Cut-off Dates for School Enrolment and Their Consequences for Educational Outcomes
Summer School in Social Science Methods
Established in 1997, the Swiss Summer School is open to all who need to use Social Science methods, both quantitative and qualitative, for their work. It has been conceived for those who feel the need to refresh, deepen and widen their methodological knowledge and skills, whatever their professional situation: student, researcher or practitioner.
The 27th Summer School 2023 took place in August 10-25: Programme
The 28th edition of the Summer School will take place in August 2024.
FORS Data management webinar series
Does your research involve data collection in a social science discipline or involve human participants? Do you want to learn more about key data management practices throughout the research process?
Check out the videos and presentation slides of the following domains:
- Data management planning
- Data protection
- Data security
- Archiving and data sharing
- Informed consent
- Data documentation
- Quantitative data anonymisation
- Qualitative data anonymisation