About Us

We are an interdisciplinary, international network of scientists working together on different aspects of our common topic (see Intro) using reconstructive methods of social research based on rich qualitative data. We share and discuss ongoing research by individual members, projects, and institutions, bringing together partial results to complete the overall picture. Furthermore, we promote professional reconstructive research based on qualitative data in the field of basic income and offer our experience & advice in this regard.

What do we mean by “reconstructive” social research?

  1. The term “reconstructive” refers to methods of analysis that attempt to “reconstruct” or identify the specificity of real cases in order to discover “grounded theories” that fit the concrete reality of life. Many quantifying studies still investigate theories and hypotheses that were not obtained from real cases, and therefore often remain too abstract and undifferentiated. Reconstructive approaches are important to avoid a premature assignment of cases to pre-existing categories and theories, also to ensure that new, previously unknown realities of life practice have a chance to be recognized appropriately.
  2. Reconstructive approaches often work with rich qualitative data of real cases, that is, with coherent, natural expressions of a life practice that have been recorded or transcribed (e.g., non-standardized interviews, natural documents, video recordings, photographs, etc.).
  3. This research takes an exemplary approach. Strategically selected cases are analyzed in detail to understand the complex reality of life practice in an exemplary and analytically precise manner, to obtain realistic answers to general research questions.

As our network is still young, we are currently involved in connecting people, projects, and institutions that share our research interests. We want to bring them together and provide a platform for collaboration and communication.

Our network was established in 2021. It has been initiated by Manuel Franzmann, who has been doing research on UBI from the perspective of sociology, educational science, and social work for more than 20 years. Manuel also serves as our network coordinator.

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References:

Oevermann, Ulrich / Allert, Tilman / Konau, Elisabeth and Krambeck, Jürgen (1987). Structures of meaning and objective Hermeneutics. In: V. Meja, D. Misgeld, and N. Stehr (Eds.) (pp. 436–447).
Glaser, Barney G. and Strauss, Anselm L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York: A. de Gruyter.