8 September 2025 (14.00-18.00), at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland Organized by Julia Brandl (University of Innsbruck, Austria), Rainer Diaz-Bone (University of Lucerne) and Guillemette de Larquier (University of Lille, France).
Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) is seen as a “best practice” for analyzing quantitative data in EC/SC, however, remains still little used in current research projects. The half-day training session is intended to develop knowledge on convention-theoretical analysis with the help of MCA and provide impulses for participants’ own research projects within the tradition of convention theory. The session consists of two parts: In part 1, the organizers provide a practical illustration of a convention-theoretical analysis with MCA and reflect theory-based decisions for adequate research designs. Comparisons to the uses of MCA in the field-theoretical tradition of Pierre Bourdieu are intended, too. In addition, the suitability of MCA compared to other statistical methods, such as regression techniques (i. e. multi-level analysis or logistic regression), will be discussed. Part 2 offers space for participants to discuss their own research projects and develop ideas for using MCA in these projects. We use round tables for small-group discussions and conclude with a plenary discussion.
We welcome scholars who are experienced with MCA and other statistical methods as well as scholars who have worked mainly with qualitative data.
Scholars who want to participate can register until 31 May 2025 (via email to julia.brandl@uibk.ac.at). Please let us know if you wish to share your research project the group discussion part and provide a ½page summary of the project.
Julia Brandl Rainer Diaz-Bone Guillemette de Larquier
9-10 September 2025, at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland Organized by Léonie Bisang, Rainer Diaz-Bone, Guy Schwegler (all University of Lucerne) and Kenneth Horvath (University of Teacher Education Zurich). Laurent Thévenot (EHESS Paris) will be the keynote speaker and special guest.
Over the decades after its foundation in the 1980s around Paris, the approach of economics and sociology of conventions (EC/SC) has become a well-established and internationally recognized neopragmatist institutionalism. There are several generations of scholars who have applied EC/SC to an increasing extent of topics and scientific fields, resulting in a huge body of research. Accordingly, scholars in the field of EC/SC have begun to systematize, evaluate and reflect on the EC/SC’s achievements, its specificities, and its proper scientific practices. The workshop intends to drive this process of reflection and development forward, focusing on EC/SC’s research methods and practices as well as on its methodological and epistemological positions and contributions. The topic of methods and methodologies can be related to various aspects such as (1) the more general reflection on characteristics and developments of doing and reflecting about research in the style of EC/SC; (2) the methodological properties of EC/SC as a pragmatist institutional analysis; or (3) the particularities and usages of EC/SC’s methods and methodologies when applied to specific topics and research areas. (4) Also, EC/SC can serve as a framework to consider methodological developments outside in the broader field of social sciences. Below are several examples of questions that could be addressed:
How can we plan convention theorist research and unfold a neopragmatist explanation in institutional analysis?
What are general principles of neopragmatism and what about their practical consequences for applied research?
What would be the special features of empirical convention theorist analysis compared to other institutionalist approaches?
How are conventions identified and their dynamics and impacts in situations tracked?
Which kind of data can and should be used?
How can existing methods be adapted and employed?
How should we assess the quality of EC/SC’s empirical research?
How can more recent developments, such as digitalization and AI, be incorporated into EC/SC’s research practice, and how can research on their eects be conducted?
What are the aordances of neopragmatist methodological perspectives for understanding and addressing current dynamics and challenges that social researchers face (e.g. the methodological fragmentation of social research)?
Scholars intending to actively participate and to give a presentation in the workshop can contribute with different kinds of presentations. Options include (but are not limited to): (a) discussions of methodological issues or problems related to one’s ongoing research (as PhD projects), (b) presentations of new methods or methodological innovations, and (c) general contributions to methods as well as methodological and epistemological issues. Scholars are invited to send their title and abstract (round about 250 words) until 31 March 2025 (via email to rainer.diazbone@unilu.ch). Scholars who want to participate without presenting can register until 31 May 2025 (also via email to rainer.diazbone@unilu.ch). Sessions will be implemented that gather presentations linking the fields of applied research (e.g. labor, education, management/HRM, sustainability/climate change, health, culture) to the questions listed above. The workshop continues the series of (almost annual) EC/SC workshops. Participants will meet and discuss with experts in the field and can expect valuable and intense exchanges.
Léonie Bisang Rainer Diaz-Bone Kenneth Horvath Guy Schwegler