Project Details
Projekt
GRK 2493: Between user-focused and impact research. Consequences of social services work
Subject Area
Educational Research
Social Sciences
Social Sciences
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 398510439
Social services are legitimised through socio-political and legally standardised objectives such as inclusion, integration and participation, resocialisation, child welfare, education, well-being or mental health. These objectives apply to the different social services being researched in the interdisciplinary Research Training Group (RTG) 2493 involving social pedagogy, psychology and sociology: both for support in the context of disability, migration or criminality as well as family support and services in the context of school or psychotherapy. Different approaches to evaluation currently aim to assess the achievement of these pre-defined, programmatic objectives. RTG 2493 builds on these research approaches, but expands the perspective significantly. It takes into account that service users also produce consequences, which are shaped by their practices as well as their interpretations, and go beyond the predefined objectives. Consequences of social services can be intended or unintended, desired, undesired or ambivalent. Some consequences are a direct result of the situations in which the support is provided, others only evolve over the course of the service users’ lives. RTG 2493 applies just the kind of open research attitude and corresponding research methods and designs necessary to be able to research such consequences. During the second phase, the group concentrates on two specific perspectives: First, the focus is concentrated on unintended consequences, i.e. consequences that do not correspond to the programmatic objectives, as this focus leads particularly to new insights into social services. Second, the social contexts in which social services are embedded are focused on more intensely than before. It is systematically analysed how consequences arise in connection with the ascriptions that service users have to deal with, as well as their social situation and the settings in which support is provided. RTG 2493 addresses five central questions that relate the individual projects to each other and profile them as research on consequences. These central questions refer to the social contexts in which consequences arise (1) as well as the service users’ involvement in producing these consequences (2). They also focus on the different research methods that can be used to record consequences (3), understanding causality which traces consequences back to specific causes (4), and the consequences of how social services impact on the identity of service users (5). The central questions as well as the interdisciplinary context of RTG 2493 enable doctoral candidates to become familiar with different types of research on consequences and develop their own approach to research on consequences.
DFG Programme
Research Training Groups
Applicant Institution
Universität Siegen
Spokesperson
Professorin Dr. Chantal Munsch
