After successful completion of the course, students are able to develop a scientific question on a given topic and to work on it in a written paper based on empirical data material (texts, interviews, pictures). The students gain initial experience and skills in the field of housing research; they are introduced to the craft of sociology (learn to prepare observation protocols, conduct interviews and interpret various data material) and acquire scientific writing skills.

In the context of the seminar, a small empirical research project with reference to architecture is carried out. The focus can be on practices (of appropriation, furnishing or advertising of living space etc.). However, attitudes and values of actors (such as architects, users, developers, etc.) or processes of meaning ascription can also be the subject. We work mainly with qualitative methods (various forms of interview, group discussion, participant observation). The data will either be collected by the students themselves (e.g. in the form of interviews, pictures, observation protocols), or existing texts (advertising materials, websites, articles from the daily press, etc.) will be used. The focus is always on the joint interpretation of the data collected or collected by the students themselves. The topics change from semester to semester.

Topic SS 2024: *** Communal spaces in Viennese social housing ***

Qualitative methods of social research; field research (observation, questioning), image analysis, discourse analysis, action research

Submission of a seminar paper.