Author: Methods Lab

Workshop: Prompting Ethnography: Experiments with LLMs in Fieldnotes, Analysis, Writing, and Reflexivity (29 October)

Methods Lab

Join us for the workshop „Prompting Ethnography: Experiments with LLMs in Fieldnotes, Analysis, Writing, and Reflexivity“ for researchers and students with intermediate experience in ethnography who would like to explore and critically discuss the potential role of AI in ethnographic research. The workshop will take place on October 29, 2026 (10am–2pm) at the Weizenbaum Institute in the Flexroom (A1_04), and will be led by Prof. Dr. Paula Bialski (University of St. Gallen & WI) and Prof. Dr. Götz Bachmann (University of Siegen). This workshop is organized by the Weizenbaum PhD Network “Research in Practice”, coordinated by Katharina Berr and Jana Heim, and supported by the Weizenbaum Methods Lab.

What could AI offer in ethnographic research and where does it flatten, overinterpret, invent, or produce false coherence and what new forms of reflection become necessary and possible? In this experimental and hands-on workshop participants will work through  exercises involving scribbles, diary writing, analytical interpretation, essay drafting, and reflection. We will examine how LLMs can act as interlocutors, critics, and writing partners, sometimes through deliberately assigned roles, while also asking how researchers can retain responsibility for what is generated, revised, accepted, or rejected. The workshop is especially relevant for doctoral researchers, ethnographers, qualitative researchers, and teachers interested in AI and methodology. Participants are invited to bring short excerpts from their own scribbles, fieldnotes, or research memos, although sample material can also be provided.

The event is hybrid. It is open to QPD. To learn more, please visit our program page. We look forward to welcoming you!

Workshop: Visualizing Situatedness – Situational Analysis through Maps and Collages (October 8, 2026)

Methods Lab

Join us for the workshop “Visualizing Situatedness – Situational Analysis through Maps and Collages” on October 8, 2026, where Franziska Zirker will introduce participants to Situational Analysis and collage-based mapping as tools for qualitative data analysis.

Qualitative research seeks to understand how people, technologies, institutions, discourses, and material environments become entangled in complex situations. Situational Analysis is an interpretative qualitative approach that helps researchers make these relational complexities visible through mapping.

This workshop introduces participants to the basics of Situational Analysis (e.g., creating situational maps from one’s own research material) and to an innovative collage-based extension of the method (e.g., translating maps into digitally sourced images and assembling them into physical collages). Participants will have the opportunity to apply what they have learned to their own research projects and to discuss how image selection, printing, cutting, and re-assembly shape analytical thinking.

The workshop is designed for researchers at any career stage and with any level of prior methodological experience; no prior knowledge is required, and research projects at any stage are welcome. Seats are limited to 15 participants. To learn more, please visit our program page. We look forward to welcoming you!

Workshop: Introduction to LaTeX and Overleaf (September 10, 2026)

Methods Lab

Join us for the workshop Introduction to LaTeX and Overleaf on September 10, 2026, where Roland Toth and Jochen Knaus will introduce participants to the use of Latex through Overleaf for scientific and technical writing. This workshop is organized by the Methods Lab and Research Management at WI.

LaTeX is a typesetting system and markup language for scientific and technical writing with many advantages over Microsoft Word and similar software packages. Overleaf, which is hosted as a web service at the Weizenbaum Institute, enables collaborative writing projects using LaTeX. This workshop introduces participants to the basics of Overleaf (e.g., setting up an account, creating a project, collaboration, and file management) and to the fundamentals of LaTeX (e.g., formatting, packages, and citations). Participants will have the opportunity to apply what they have learned within a small project.

The workshop is designed for researchers (and student assistants) who have no/limited experience with LaTeX/Overleaf.

Seats are limited. To learn more, please visit our program page. We look forward to welcoming you!

OpenQDA now locally available at WI

Methods Lab

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new local instance of OpenQDA, now accessible at https://openqda.intern.weizenbaum-institut.de/. This instance is hosted within the Weizenbaum Institute and provides researchers with a dedicated, secure environment for qualitative data analysis. As of now, LDAP authentication is not yet implemented, so access requires being on the Weizenbaum Institute network or connected via VPN. To create a new account, please access the link at the bottom of the landing page.

OpenQDA, developed by ZeMKI at the University of Bremen, is a free, open-source, web-based alternative to the commercial software MAXQDA. It supports core coding functions, follows the REFI standard for project interoperability, and enables collaborative workflows with versioning and shared codebooks. The platform also offers basic visualizations and is designed with GDPR-compliant data handling in mind.

This local instance builds on our earlier announcement of OpenQDA and reflects our commitment to open, collaborative, and ethically responsible research practices. The full source code is available on GitHub under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0, and the ZeMKI welcomes feedback and contributions from the research community.

We encourage all researchers to explore the platform and help shape its development!

Workshop Recap: Walking Through and Scrolling Back: Digital Ethnographic Methods for Platform Research

Methods Lab

Researchers from Freie Universität Berlin and Weizenbaum Institute gathered on May 12-13, 2026, for a workshop on digital ethnography jointly organized with the DiMES and Methods Lab.

Daniela Jamarillo-Dent introduces the scroll-back method

The workshop introduced the theoretical foundations of digital ethnography and explored a range of methodological approaches, including walkthrough, walk-along, and scroll-back techniques, alongside hands-on exercises focused on the platforms TikTok and Instagram. The workshop was led by Dr. Daniela Jaramillo-Dent (University of Zurich and Università della Svizzera italiana).


Daniela Jamarillo-Dent introduces different techniques in digital ethnography

Participants learned about conducting digital ethnographic research on social media platforms and explored how platform affordances and vernaculars shape online behavior, engagement, and forms of connection, with particular attention to marginalized communities and hard-to-reach groups. Through guided walkthrough exercises examining digital platforms, researchers reflected on field note-taking, multimodal analysis, reporting practices, and different approaches to sampling social media content. The subsequent scroll-back exercise focused on user-centered research approaches, incorporating users into the study process, and interviewing research participants.

Participants engaged in workshop exercises

Discussions emphasized the importance of researcher positionality and reflexivity in digital ethnographic research, as well as researcher well-being, informed consent, and the well-being of research participants. Overall, the workshop provided practical methodological tools and critical perspectives for conducting ethically grounded digital ethnographic research on platforms.

Workshop: Walking Through and Scrolling Back – Digital Ethnographic Methods for Platform Research Workshop (12-13 May)

Methods Lab

Join us for the workshop Walking Through and Scrolling Back: Digital Ethnographic Methods for Platform Research, organized by the Methods Lab. On May 12–13, 2026, Dr. Daniela Jaramillo-Dent will introduce participants to innovative ethnographic approaches for studying visual and interactive social media platforms.

This hands-on workshop focuses on two complementary methods: the walkthrough method and the scroll back method. Participants will learn how to engage directly with platform interfaces to better understand how design features, technological mechanisms, and cultural references shape user experiences. In addition, the scroll back method will be explored as an interview-based adaptation, inviting participants to revisit their own platform histories and reflect on their interactions and meaning-making processes. Through practical exercises and examples from digital communities, the workshop offers valuable insights into how discourses emerge and evolve on visual platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

The workshop is designed for beginner to intermediate researchers who are interested in expanding their qualitative methodological toolkit.

Seats are limited. To learn more, please visit our program page. We look forward to welcoming you!

Conference Recap: “Data, Archive & Tool Demos” at DGPUK 2026

Methods Lab
Great interest in the 12 high-density presentations

On March 19, 2026, the “Data, Archive & Tool Demos” panel returned at the annual conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) in Dortmund. Co-hosted by the Methods Lab lead Christian Strippel, colleagues and the GESIS Methods Hub, the panel brought together researchers to present and exchange reusable research data sets, archives, collections, and research software that promote transparency, collaboration, and methodological innovation in communication and media studies.

A total of 12 projects were presented, including the Platform Governance Archive, OpenQDA, the GESIS Pretest Database, the German Scandal Database, FID Media Publish, and a community data trustee for researching the far right online. The projects were first introduced in short presentations. Afterwards, interested colleagues from the audience could learn more about each project at poster and demo stations. As was the case two years prior, interest in the format was very high. This motivates us to continue offering this format in the future.

Workshop Recap: Reflections on Qualitative Interviews in Practice

Methods Lab

On March 19th, PhD researchers and postdocs from the WI, together with colleagues from partner institutions including DeZIM, FU Berlin, and WBZ, participated in a hands-on workshop on qualitative interviews as a method of data collection. With participants at different stages of their academic careers, the workshop offered a lively and collaborative space to reflect on both the practical challenges and methodological nuances of interview-based research.

The session began with short inputs from Zozan Baran (FU Berlin), Samuel Zewdie Hagos (DeZIM), and Georg von Richthofen (HIIG). Drawing on their own research experiences, they shared insights into what makes qualitative interviews both rewarding and demanding. Meaningful interviews are not only about asking the “right” questions, but also about building trust, remaining reflexive, and approaching the research process with care and attentiveness.

A recurring theme throughout the workshop was positionality: how researchers are perceived, how they position themselves, and how this shapes the interview situation. While shared language or similar backgrounds can help establish rapport, the speakers emphasized that these factors do not erase existing asymmetries. Instead, they highlighted the importance of continuously reflecting on expectations, power dynamics, and vulnerabilities on all sides of the interaction.

This kind of reflection, participants noted, starts well before entering the field. Engaging deeply with theory and existing literature was framed as essential preparation – captured in the idea of approaching interviews with “an open mind, but not an empty head.”

Beyond interview design, the workshop also explored the broader conditions under which interviews take place. Discussions addressed practical considerations such as the choice of setting (online vs. in person) and how each shapes the interaction. Ethical questions also played a central role, particularly when working with sensitive or potentially traumatic topics.

In the moderated discussion that followed, participants connected these themes to their own research projects. Conversations around locality, navigating difficult situations, and managing the emotional demands of working with vulnerable groups led to a rich exchange of perspectives and strategies.

Rather than offering a fixed set of rules, the workshop highlighted the iterative nature of qualitative interviewing: analyze, adapt, and refine. 

Workshop: Qualitative Interviews in Practice (March 19, 2026)

Methods Lab

Join us for the workshop Qualitative Interviews in Practice, organized by the Methods Lab at the Weizenbaum Institute. On March 19, 2026, three experienced researchers will share insights from their hands-on work with qualitative interviews.

The workshop focuses on practical experience, reflection, and methodological exchange. Each invited expert will give a short input based on their own research practice, addressing topics such as planning and preparing interviews, conducting interviews in different contexts, training interviewers, handling challenging situations, and reflecting on lessons learned. The inputs will be followed by an open discussion, where participants can bring their own projects, questions, and experiences.

The workshop is open to researchers at different stages of their careers—from those preparing their first interviews to those with extensive field experience who are interested in exchanging perspectives and best practices.

To learn more, please visit our program page. We hope to see you there!

Workshop: Introduction to Programming and Data Analysis with R (March 25-26, 2026)

Methods Lab

The Methods Lab is happy to welcome back the fourth annual Programming and Data Analysis with R workshop, led by Roland Toth (WI). The two-day workshop will take place at the Weizenbaum Institute on Wednesday, March 25, and Thursday, March 26.

Aimed at participants with beginner to intermediate experience, the workshop offers a practical introduction to programming in R. On the first day, participants will learn the basics of coding, key data wrangling techniques, and how to work with Markdown. The second day builds on this foundation by focusing on data analysis through hands-on work with real datasets, allowing participants to explore a research topic with guided support.

Across both days, the workshop combines clear explanations with practical coding exercises, creating an interactive and supportive learning environment for developing core data analysis skills.

Seats are limited to 20 participants. For more information, check out the program page!