Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,
ich möchte Sie auf einen Cfp aufmerksam machen (siehe unten und im Anhang).
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Natalja Menold
PD Dr. Natalja Menold
Wissenschaftliche Teamleiterin
GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften,
Umfragedesign und Methodik (SDM)
B2,15
D-68159 Mannheim
Tel.: 0621 / 1246 286
Fax: 0621 / 1246 100
Mail: natalja.menold@gesis.org
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Public Call for Contributions to the GESIS Symposium “Advances in Scale Development in the Social Sciences: Issues of Comparability”
GESIS, Mannheim, Tuesday 14 – Wednesday 15 November 2017
Aims and Scope:
GESIS provides a unique venue for interdisciplinary expert meetings and symposia, to which
we warmly invite you. This year’s two-day symposium on Advances in Scale Development will
focus on how to deal with comparability issues. The topics range from assessing conceptual
issues (i.e. functional and structural equivalence) to ensuring validity throughout the whole
process of scale development. Key experts bridging different disciplines (e.g., social sciences,
psychology, sociology) will give talks and present cutting-edge advances, exchange ideas
about standards of the field and agree on shared views about best practices. In the course of
the expert meeting there will be room for round-table discussions of the different positions
with the aim to arrive at a blueprint for future best practices. The following topics might be
discussed: the role of external linkages (ie. nomological network of meaning) for ensuring
comparability of measurements, structural equivalence, measurement invariance with
different approaches, the role of translations, and cognitive pretesting to ensure
comparability, etc. Papers on theoretical approaches, critical treatises, empirical studies, and
best practice approaches can be submitted. Innovative contributions in early developmental
stages are also welcome.
We are happy to welcome Jon Krosnick (Standford, USA), Fons van de Vijver (Tilburg,
Netherlands), Gerard Saucier (Oregon, USA), Michael Eid (Berlin), Matthias Ziegler (Berlin),
Johnny Fontaine (Ghent, Belgium), Eldad Davidov (Cologne), Klaus Boehnke (Bremen), Jaak
Billiet (Leuven, Belgium), Matthias von Davier (Philadelphia, USA), Ana Villar (London, UK) and
Kristen Miller (Washington, USA) who all have agreed to give talks and participate. The
meeting and informal get-togethers provide ample opportunity to critically review ways to
handle issues of comparability, to identify challenges in current scale development practice,
and to discover possible remedies. We expect valuable contributions that are likely to shape
survey research. The organizers will invite all contributors to internationally publish the
conference outcomes, e.g., as a book or part of a book series.
GESIS invites interested researchers to attend the meeting. The presentations should be
comparatively short (10 minutes) allowing enough room for discussions. Authors interested in
contributing to the GESIS symposium should submit their proposal (max. 350 words) to
Accepted and registered contributors will be invited to share – on a voluntary basis - and
circulate their presentations among symposiums participants prior to the symposium, as a
preparation and basis for effective discussions.
Important dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: July 31, 2017
Decision: September 01, 2017
Registration (latest): October 01, 2017
Voluntary submission of presentations for circulation: October 30, 2017
Information about Registration:
Accepted contributions will be eligible to register for the Expert Meeting. Detailed information
about the registration process will be sent in due time. The financial contribution towards the
expenses (e.g. coffee breaks, snacks, drinks and lunches) is €50,00.
We look forward to welcoming you in Mannheim. More information on traveling and
accommodation can be found at:
http://www.gesis.org/en/institute/address-journey/locationmannheim/