Social Constellations Explaining Violence

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Wilhelm Heitmeyer
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2012 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 228534351

The project team has successfully completed the data collection during the approved 24 months until the end of 2014. This was demanded in the grant letter of the August 6th 2012 to apply for a prolongation for a detailed data analysis. This included the quantitative and qualitative pre-tests and the poll with almost 2,000 pupils and 53 qualitative interviews with juveniles and experts.It is the aim of the prolongation of the research project to undertake a thorough data analysis which is part of our mixed methods approach. Therefore we will not only conduct a singular analysis of the quantitative data and the qualitative data but we also want to deploy a methodical linkage of the results. This procedure will generate deeper insights both in respect of testing the hypotheses and the comparison resp. the linkage of both theories. The project team will examine the different kinds of data separately in the first months. On the hand, this will comprise the quantitative testing of the hypotheses. On the other hand, the focus will be on testing the validity of our new developed measuring instrument of the Control Balance Theory. The analysis of the qualitative data is based on the Grounded Theory, which might contribute to a better understanding of the statistical correlations. This step, the combination of the two data types and the theory integration will be conducted in the second third of the year. In autumn 2016, there will be a final international workshop in Bielefeld to discuss our findings with about 20 researchers. The results of this workshop will be integrated in the final report and in further publications.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants