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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. 

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

Diana Ignatovich

The “Data, Archive & Tool Demos” panel featured at the 2024 conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) will return at this year’s DGPuK conference in Dortmund. On Thursday, March 19, 2026, Methods Lab lead Christian Strippel will host this special panel together with Johannes Breuer, Silke Fürst, Erik Koenen, Dimitri Prandner, and Christian Schwarzenegger, in collaboration with the GESIS Methods Hub.

The panel aims to exchange reusable research data, archives, collections, and relevant research software that strengthen transparency, collaboration, and methodological innovation in communication and media studies. Some of the featured projects include: 

  • MaskBench: a modular framework for benchmarking 2D pose estimation and video de-identification, allowing comparison of models on privacy-masked videos
  • Epigraf 5.2: a research platform for collecting, annotating, linking, and publishing multimodal text data
  • GESIS Pretest-Datenbank: a database providing insights from cognitive pretests, showing how respondents understand, interpret, and answer survey questions for improved questionnaire design 
  • GESIS AppKit: a mobile data collection tool for smartphones, compliant with data protection regulations and free of charge, supporting experience sampling, ambulatory, and ecological momentary assessments
  • GESIS Methods Hub: an open community portal giving tools, tutorials, and interactive environments to explore and apply computational methods
  • OpenQDA 1.0.3: the improved version of the free, open-source, web-based alternative to MAXQDA, providing flexible and collaborative tools for qualitative data analysis
  • Platform Governance Archive (PGA): a long-term repository of social media platform policies, enabling research on how platforms govern communication and track changes over time 
  • FID Media Publish: a central, free research service for communication and media studies, providing tailored literature, open-access publishing support, and specialized resources
  • ComAI Research Space: a collaborative platform coordinating joint data collection on communicative AI, creating an open repository, and investigating emerging media and communication practices

To learn more about the full program and the organizational details of the event, click here! Those interested in joining are welcome to register online until March 17th, or in person by March 20th.

Meet our Newest Methods Lab Members!

Diana Ignatovich

We are delighted to welcome our newest members, Baoning “Bonny” Gong and Miriam Milzner to the Methods Lab. As research associates and doctoral researchers in the group “Dynamics of Digital Mobilization” at the Weizenbaum Institute, they bring methodological expertise and extensive research experience in digital political communication.

Baoning Gong completed her master’s degree in Media and Political Communication at Freie Universität Berlin. In her doctoral research, she examines the mobilization of far right social movements across different social media platforms from a comparative perspective.

Bonny enjoys working with quantitative and qualitative content analysis, that allow for both in depth analysis and the identification of patterns at scale. For her, paying attention to what people say and write is a key starting point to understand politics and society. By joining the methods lab, she is most excited about helping with methods questions and exploring new methods others are using in their research.

A small joy in her office: a steadily growing collection of stuffed animals on her desk.

Miriam Milzner is a doctoral candidate at Freie Universität Berlin, where she also completed her master’s degree in Communication and Media Studies. Her dissertation focuses on coordinated disinformation campaigns and the strategic manipulation of public debates on social media, exploring how digital information ecosystems shape mobilization and information disorder.

She is most enthusiastic about computational methods and about supporting colleagues in developing their methodological skills in the methods lab. She also looks forward to bringing inspiring researchers to the institute to share their expertise. Outside of her research, going through her saved searches on Vinted and Kleinanzeigen is a small ritual that brightens her day.

We are very happy to have Bonny and Miriam join our team and look forward to working with them in the Methods lab. Welcome!

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!

Tool Presentation: OpenQDA

Diana Ignatovich

OpenQDA is an accessible and easy-to-use alternative to the qualitative data analysis tool MAXQDA, which can often feel complicated, individualized, or expensive. It is being developed by our colleagues at ZeMKI at the University of Bremen. It offers functions similar to MAXQDA, but is free, open-source, web-based, and designed to support researchers through a flexible, collaborative workflow.

Although still in its early alpha phase, OpenQDA already supports core functions of qualitative coding and follows the REFI standard, making it possible to exchange projects with other programs. It enables collaborative workflows by allowing multiple researchers to work on shared projects from different locations, with versioning features that help track changes and maintain transparency. Users can further explore their data through basic visualizations, including distributions, frequencies, and configurable word clouds. In addition, a shared codebook library encourages researchers to exchange codebooks, ideas, and feedback within the growing OpenQDA community. An instructional overview video providing a brief guided tour of these features is available here, and detailed guidelines to using OpenQDA are provided here.

True to the open-source approach, the complete source code has been published on GitHub under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0, where anyone can explore the project and follow its progress. For example, a recent issue with assigning documents to projects was resolved through close collaboration between users and the software developers, who discussed potential solutions together and then implemented the necessary changes. Other topics still under discussion, such as improving accessibility, are being addressed alongside the development roadmap, which outlines upcoming features and planned improvements.

OpenQDA is designed to support GDPR-compliant data handling, with users retaining full control over their data. As researchers adopt and test the platform, their feedback directly informs its ongoing development, particularly through planned and emerging plug-in mechanisms that extend functionality. Together, these principles position OpenQDA as a community-driven platform that supports qualitative data analysis while inviting researchers to co-create the tools shaping its future.

New publication: The quality and quantity of mobile media use

Roland Toth

In a world where smartphones are rarely out of reach, the conversation around mobile media use has long centered on one metric: screen time. But what if the real story isn’t about duration, but about how we use these devices?

The Methods Lab is proud to share a new publication in Computers in Human Behavior Reports, authored by Roland Toth, Aurelio Fernández, Javier García-Manglano, and Pedro de la Rosa. Titled Quality and quantity: The role of gratification and situation variety when measuring mobile media use, this study challenges the dominance of screen time and proposes a more meaningful way to understand smartphone engagement. This publication is a result of a cooperation between the Methods Lab and the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Navarra that was initiated with a research stay in 2023.

Using data from 1,525 Spanish emerging adults across three waves of a national panel study, the researchers suggest that the variety of gratifications (such as staying informed, socializing, organizing, or escaping stress) and the diversity of situations (different combinations of places, activities, and social settings) play an important role when measuring mobile media use more comprehensively. Both were stronger predictors of mobile vigilance (our constant mental and behavioral attention to devices) than the duration spent using them. Situation variety was particularly strongly linked to mobile vigilance. This suggests that the true significance of smartphone use lies not in how long we use it, but in how deeply and broadly it’s woven into daily life.

The findings challenge the idea that screen time alone captures meaningful engagement. Instead, they highlight that smartphones are not just tools for consumption, but dynamic instruments of identity, connection, and routine – especially when used across varied purposes and contexts. This paper calls for a shift in research: measuring not just how much, but to what extent people leverage their devices. By integrating quality dimensions like gratification and situation variety, researchers can gain a richer, more expressive picture of digital behavior.

As mobile media evolve, so must our methods. This work is a step toward a more human-centered understanding of digital life – one that values depth over duration.

Workshop Recap: Scientific Data Visualization

Diana Ignatovich

On December 4th, 2025, Dr. Ansgar Hudde led an online workshop on Scientific Data Visualization for the Methods Lab, examining the principles, possibilities, and responsibilities involved in communicating data effectively. He opened by highlighting the influence of visualizations in scientific research and how design choices can carry subtle, persuasive, and even political messages. Dr. Hudde encouraged participants to consider what makes a graph clear and meaningful, noting that sketching ideas on paper can be a valuable first step in the design process.

Ansgar Hudde discusses the importance of data visualization

He then walked the group through a wide range of published figures to show how design affects interpretation. Participants shared their perspectives as he highlighted the need to balance informativeness, accessibility, and visual appeal. Together, they examined examples where unclear axes, inconsistent fonts, vertical text, or poor color choices hindered comprehension, as well as examples where alignment, labeling, and intentional color palettes made complex information easy to understand.
Key principles surfaced throughout the session, including consistent fonts, intuitive scales, embedded labels that reduce clutter, and mindful decisions about emphasizing detail versus simplicity. Dr. Hudde also discussed technical considerations such as smoothing noisy data, using jittering to show distributions, selecting appropriate graph types, and avoiding three dimensional forms or style choices that add complexity without improving understanding. He reminded participants that visualization is never neutral, especially in maps, where choices about scale, labeling, and color strongly shape interpretation.

The second half of the workshop was interactive. Participants submitted their own graphs, explained their context, and received practical feedback from Dr. Hudde and fellow attendees. Discussions focused on choosing accessible color palettes, adjusting axes and titles for clarity, modifying label angles, and simplifying overly complex designs. Participants also raised questions about visualizing Likert scales, presenting regression results, and ensuring figures remain interpretable in grayscale. The group briefly discussed software options, and Dr. Hudde recommended Stata, R, and Python, while noting that consistency within one’s analytic environment matters most.

By the end of the workshop, attendees had refined their figures and deepened their understanding of how intentional design choices enhance interpretability, clarity, and the responsible communication of research.

Call for Contributions: “Data, Archives, & Tool Demos” at the 2026 DGPuK Annual Conference

Diana Ignatovich

The Methods Lab is excited to announce that the “Data, Archive & Tool Demos” special session will return at the 2026 DGPuK Annual Conference in Dortmund. The event will be co-organized by Methods Lab lead Christian Strippel with Johannes Breuer, Silke Fürst, Erik Koenen, Dimitri Prandner, and Christian Schwarzenegger, in collaboration with the GESIS Methods Hub, a community-oriented network for computational tools and resources.

This year’s session is a continuation of the format introduced at the 2024 DGPuK Conference in Erfurt, in a well-received event. The aim moving forward is to keep the discussion going, and potentially establish this format as a regular feature of the annual conference. Full details of the call for 2026 contributions are available here. 

Researchers are invited to submit 200–300 word abstracts (German or English) by January 19, 2026. Eligible contributions must have not already been presented in the previous DGPuK sessions, are required to be available for scholarly reuse and must not be managed commercially. Contributions may also be resubmitted only if they have changed significantly, and this must be stated explicitly.

Workshop: Scientific Data Visualization

Methods Lab

Join us in the upcoming workshop on Scientific Data Visualization, beneficial for researchers, students, and professionals interested in improving their skills in quantitative data visualization. On December 4, 2025, Ansgar Hudde, lecturer in Sociology at the University of Cologne, will lead an online, hands-on session introducing strategies for creating clear and effective visualizations in Stata.

The workshop will cover key aspects of graph design, including working with text, colours, axes, reference lines, transparency, fonts, and number formatting. Through interactive exercises with example datasets, participants will gain practical experience applying these principles and build confidence in producing polished, informative figures. By the end of the session, they will be able to create and refine visualizations that strengthen their empirical research and academic publications.

For more details, please visit our program page. We hope to see you there!