Academics ‘in motion’: A mixed-methods study on the link between social and spatial mobility of researchers

学术“运动”：关于研究人员的社会和空间流动性之间联系的混合方法研究

• 批准号: 432833133
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Nicole Burzan
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Soziologie (ISO)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2019-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/432833133?language=en
• 关键词: Academics; motion; mixed; methods; study

The project explores the link between social and spatial mobility of researchers in Germany over the course of time, especially in the biographical retrospective. Against the background of diagnoses of contemporary advanced modern societies assuming an increasing spatial mobility in recent years, we ask whether these growing mobility requirements are likewise virulent in academics – or whether spatial flexibility is rather a congenial feature of academic work.Beyond the current state of research, we take a systematic look at various academic career stages (PhD candidates, post-doctoral fellows and senior scientists) and analyze the dynamics of the interplay between social and spatial mobility in the form of different process types and trajectories. Taking into account subjective interpretations of different forms of mobility contributes to a profound understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, e.g. by distinguishing between 'opportunity-' and 'survival-driven'-mobility, and transcends the analysis of superficial correlations. Moreover, the question arises as to which extent and in which ways explanatory factors impact on the interaction of social and spatial mobility in different career stages. In order to tackle this question, we distinguish between three main dimensions: 1) individual characteristics and resources, e.g. in accordance with the concept of 'motility'; 2) personal attitudes and preferences (which may well change in the course of academic careers); 3) structural conditions, e.g. density of higher education institutions or transport infrastructure. On this basis, a sociological perspective on social inequality, which considers typical characteristics of academic careers as well as changing societal framework conditions, aims to analyze the importance of spatial mobility for upward social mobility in the academic field.Our empirical approach involves three forms of research methods: a quantitative secondary analysis of data from various surveys and two additional studies: a quantitative online survey with researchers in selected disciplines and qualitative in-depth interviews with researchers with different mobility experiences. By drawing on existing data sets from the DZHW and the DIW/GSOEP, the target of the secondary analysis is to achieve a high range of the findings, whereas some of our research questions demand a deeper and more differentiated view. Therefore, own quantitative and qualitative complementary data collections are required particularly with regard to subjective attitudes in different career phases. We thus combine approved research methods in a productive way: 1) for our quantitative research agenda: sequence pattern analysis, causal analysis and network analysis; 2) for our qualitative research agenda: analytical strategies following the grounded theory approach.

该项目探讨了随着时间的推移，德国研究人员的社会和空间流动性之间的联系，特别是在传记回顾中。近年来，我们对当代先进的现代社会进行了诊断，假设空间流动性越来越大，在此背景下，我们问，这些不断增长的流动性要求是否在学术界也同样有害--或者空间灵活性是否是学术工作的一个相当适宜的特征。（博士生，博士后研究员和资深科学家），并分析社会和空间流动性之间的相互作用，在不同的过程类型和轨迹的形式的动态。考虑到对不同形式的流动的主观解释，有助于深刻理解因果关系，例如区分“机会驱动的”流动和“生存驱动的”流动，并超越对表面相关性的分析。此外，出现的问题，在何种程度上，以何种方式解释因素的影响，在不同的职业生涯阶段的社会和空间流动的相互作用。为了解决这个问题，我们区分了三个主要方面：1）个人特征和资源，例如根据“能动性”的概念; 2）个人态度和偏好（在学术生涯中很可能会发生变化）; 3）结构条件，例如高等教育机构或交通基础设施的密度。在此基础上，从社会学的视角，考虑学术职业的典型特征和不断变化的社会框架条件，分析学术领域的空间流动对社会向上流动的重要性。我们的实证方法包括三种形式的研究方法：对各种调查数据的定量二次分析和两个附加研究：对选定学科的研究人员进行定量在线调查，并对具有不同移动体验的研究人员进行定性深入访谈。通过利用DZHW和DIW/GSOEP的现有数据集，二次分析的目标是实现高范围的发现，而我们的一些研究问题需要更深入和更有区别的观点。因此，需要自己收集定量和定性的补充数据，特别是关于不同职业阶段的主观态度。因此，我们结合联合收割机批准的研究方法，在一个富有成效的方式：1）我们的定量研究议程：序列模式分析，因果分析和网络分析; 2）我们的定性研究议程：分析策略，以下扎根理论的方法。