The Independent Variable Problem. Welfare Stateness as an Explanatory Concept.

• Applicant: Dr. Katharina Kunißen
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2022 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 499033181

When examining the extent to which welfare state policies are responsible for different outcomes for individuals in different countries, an empirical operationalisation of the welfare state or of specific elements of social policy-making is required. As discussed in this project, some substantial problems arise concerning prevalent operation-alisation practices. Essentially, these problems all relate to one key issue: while there is a great number of contri-butions addressing the measurement of differences between welfare states per se and as a dependent variable, there is a distinct lack of feasible recommendations when it comes to the operationalisation of welfare stateness as an independent variable. In light of the great number of studies assuming an effect of welfare policies on other social phenomena, the lack of standardised proceeding we encounter in this context surprises. Still, instead of following a comparable and somewhat formalised approach, scholars implement very different operationalisa-tions.To this date, there is no systematic test of how such varying proceedings may affect results and their comparabil-ity. Similarly, a detailed conceptual discussion on which features of the welfare state are relevant for the explana-tion of specific outcomes is missing.This contribution fills both gaps. First, it unravels the pitfalls of existing approaches, demonstrating how strongly empirical results vary depending on the chosen operationalisation. Second, it proposes a way to standardise pro-ceedings by deducing four distinct conceptualisations of welfare stateness as independent variable: The Respon-sive Welfare State, the Enabling Welfare State, the Normative Welfare State and the Assessed Welfare State. As a result, the operational choices are limited in a theoretically meaningful way to indicators that correspond to each concept.In an empirical test, this procedure proved to be very useful in overcoming the “independent variable problem”: they narrow down relevant facets of welfare stateness and their functions and thus serve as guidelines for the theoretical derivation of relevant analytical perspectives, their empirical operationalisation and the interpretation of result.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants