Abstracts WS 2022/2023
09. November 2022
„Data depth for directional data“
Giuseppe Pandolfo, PhD (Università degli Studi di Napoli)
Data depth are aimed at providing an inner-outer ordering of data in multivariate spaces with respect to a sample or a distribution. Depth functions have also been defined on spheres and some notions are available within the literature. However, these either lack flexibility or are very computationally expensive and thus can only be used in small dimensions. Hence, we introduce a class of depth functions for directional data which are based on spherical distances. These depths are computationally feasible also in high dimensions. Structural properties of the proposed depths are derived along with the asymptotic and robustness properties of the corresponding deepest points. The practical relevance of the proposed depths in directional statistics are related to spherical location estimation, supervised classification and cluster analysis.
14. Dezember 2022
Dr. Cédric Chambru (University of Zurich)
"The Dynamic Consequences of State-Building: Evidence from the French Revolution."
How do radical reforms of the state shape economic development over time? In 1790, France’s first Constituent Assembly overhauled the kingdom’s organization to set up new administrative entities and local capitals. In a subset of new artificial departments, local capitals were chosen quasi-randomly from a set of rival candidate cities. Comparing the final capitals with other candidates that were not ultimately chosen, we study how exogenous changes in local administrative presence affect the state’s coercive and productive capacity, as well as economic development in the ensuing decades. In the short run, administrative proximity increases taxation and investments in law enforcement. In the long run, the new capitals and their periphery obtain more public goods and experience faster economic development. One hundred years after the reform, capitals are 40% more populated than comparable cities in 1790. Our results shed new light on the intertemporal and redistributive impacts of state-building in the context of one of the most ambitious administrative reforms ever implemented.
21. Dezember 2022
"Shared Stressors and Stress Coping Strategies in Start-up Teams."
M.Sc. Liudmila Gapeyeva-Yukce
Engaging in new entrepreneurial efforts sets many demands for individuals involved, and many of those demands impact the well-being of the people in a start-up company. One common issue linked to well-being is stress. Prior research has indicated that a majority of all entrepreneurs experience stress on a regular basis (e.g. Shepherd et al., 2010). Furthermore, a recent study by Wach et al. (2021) identified that entrepreneurial stress differs from the stress that salaried employees with no entrepreneurship responsibility face in their work. The “overall high and persistence level of stress” (Wach et al., 2021) calls for stress research focusing on entrepreneurial setup. Since entrepreneurship is a wide concept and entrepreneurs as a category includes a wide variety of entrepreneurial individuals and teams, an even tighter scoping of stress research is defendable.
This study looked at a sub-category of entrepreneurial organizations called early-stage start-ups. This cohort of companies faces lots of uncertainties concerning the market, technology, and competition. Thus, it can be logically argued that these companies have stressors that are typical to their stage of development as well as difficult to solve due to the scarce resources that a young start-up possesses.
The research design adopted was based on treating entrepreneurial stress as a collective effort as well as putting emphasis on the dynamic and volatile nature of the presence of stress in daily start-up operations. The longitudinal approach (study period of 3 weeks) and team-based fresh (video) entries by the teams (4 start-up teams of 2 to 5 people each) were tackling some of the methodological challenges of prior research. Both the experienced stressors and the coping strategies used got recorded and subjected to thematic content analysis.
The findings identified stress-related characteristics typical for team-based operating model and also communal coping strategies including those that are rarely reported in the studies of coping strategies on the individual level. The findings contribute academically to the theory-building on the well-being of entrepreneurs and on a pragmatic level for entrepreneurs acting in their typically stress-laden environment as well as for the support and educational organizations for entrepreneurship.
01. Februar 2023
Qualitative Sozialforschung mit GABEK®
Am Beispiel einer Evaluierung der Betreuung von Senior*innen in Frankfurt a. M.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Josef Zelger
Für jede Organisation ist das Erfahrungswissen der Mitglieder eines der größten Potentiale. Mit dem Verfahren GABEK (GAnzheitliche BEwältigung von Komplexität) werden Erfahrungen, Meinungen und Einstellungen vieler verschiedener Personen vernetzt und übersichtlich dargestellt, so dass sie zur strategischen Planung angewendet werden können. Der Aufweis sinnvoller Beziehungen zwischen fragmentierten Überzeugungen erlaubt eine Orientierung in unklaren und unsicheren Situationen. Daraus können Handlungsperspektiven abgeleitet werden, die für die beteiligten Personen von Nutzen sind.
Im Vortrag wird gezeigt, wie zunächst ungeordnete verbale Daten in geordnete Gestaltenbäume transformiert werden. Es ergeben sich Aussagen auf unterschiedlichen Relevanzebenen. Auf der Spitze des Gestaltenbaumes stehen wenige hoch relevante Aussagen (Einfachheit), die von den meisten Personen akzeptiert werden (Allgemeinheit), die sich nur langsam verändern (Stabilität) und die mehr Orientierungswert als Neuigkeitswert haben. Auf der untersten Ebene finden wir viele kontingente Einzelmeinungen (Subjektivität), die schnell wechseln (Veränderlichkeit), die vielfältige Beziehungen untereinander aufweisen (Komplexität) und die mehr Neuigkeitswert als Orientierungswert aufweisen.
GABEK erlaubt es, bei der Wissensabfrage nach Bedarf die Ebene im Gestaltenbaum zu wechseln. Sichere Aussagen finden wir an der Spitze, Neuigkeiten an der Basis. Im Mittelbereich können wir mögliche strategische Ziele und operative Ziele finden, die für den Umsetzungsprozess bei Veränderungen Verwendung finden.
Im Vortrag wird gezeigt, wie verbale Daten mit der Software WinRelan vernetzt werden und wie damit durch qualitative Forschung überprüfbare Ergebnisse (Theoriebildung) und handlungsrelevante Ergebnisse (Organisationsentwicklung) erzielt werden. Methodische Hinweise auf eine mögliche Weiterentwicklung der Sozialwissenschaften ergeben sich daraus.