Institute of Methods and Methodological Principles in the Social Sciences

The Institute of Methods and Methodological Principles of the Social Sciences (IMMS) was established in autumn 2022 as an interdisciplinary academic unit within the Faculty of Social Sciences. The IMMS carries out university responsibilities in research, teaching, study programs, and continuing education in the area of social science research methods as well as interdisciplinary theoretical training.

The IMMS is the successor organization to the Centre for Methods of Social Science (“Methodenzentrum”, MZS). The MZS was established in the year 2000 to coordinate and promote the application and development of quantitative and qualitative methods in research and teaching, in collaboration with the departments of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The long-serving directors of the Centre for Methods of Social Science were Prof. Dr. Gabriele Rosenthal and Prof. Dr. Steffen Kühnel, who retired from active university service in October 2022 and October 2021, respectively. Prof. Dr. Gabriele Rosenthal continues to be affiliated with the University as a researcher in the project “Individual and collective memories of slavery and the slave trade: A contrastive comparison of different communities, generations and groupings in Ghana and Brazil”.

Together, they established the MZS as a highly respected institution, recognized well beyond the boundaries of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

Resources for Students
At our institute, students can make use of a variety of support services. These include access to our collection of research methods literature as well as the opportunity to rent equipment.

New releases


Rosenthal, Gabriele/Worm, Arne (2025): Macht und Gewalt. Kleine Reihe Soziologie. Wochenschau Verlag.
This volume on the sociology of power and violence discusses, on both theoretical and empirical grounds, the extent to which "power" and "violence" are relational concepts — referring not to a static object or to the properties of a person or group, but to phenomena of social relations. The use of violence is always to be understood as a social process, or at least as part of social processes.
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Köttig, Michaela/Witte, Nicole (Eds..)(2021): Biographie und Kollektivgeschichte.
This volume honours one of the internationally leading and school-forming figures in sociological biography research: Gabriele Rosenthal. Drawing on her scholarly work, the contributions address topics including collective belongings and (inter-)national conflicts, (collective) experiences of violence and traumatization in the context of war and forced migration, as well as the entanglement of perpetrator–victim relationships.

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Breckner, Roswitha/Liebhart, Karina/Pohn-Lauggas, Maria (Eds.)(2021): Sozialwissenschaftliche Analysen von Bild- und Medienwelten. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
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Bahl, Eva/Rosenthal, Gabriele (Eds.)(2021): Navigating through increasing social inequalities in times of Covid-19: Research report on interviews with migrants in the Middle East and Europe and migrants and indigenous people in South America. Göttingen: Centre for Global Migration Studies. (Global Migration Studies)
The research report is available as a free download







New releases in the Göttinger Universitätsverlag

Cé Sangalli, Lucas (2024): Migrants from Sudan in Germany and Jordan. Changing Belongings in the Context of Life and Family Histories. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download







Pohn-Lauggas, Maria/Tonah, Steve/Worm, Arne (Hrsg.)(2023): Exile/Flight/Persecution. Sociological Perspectives on Processes of Violence. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download







Rosenthal, Gabriele (Ed.) (2022) Transnational Biographies: Changing We-images, Collective Belongings and Power Chances of Migrants and Refugees. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press. (Göttingen Series in Sociological Biographical Research).
The volume is also available as a free download







Becker, Johannes/Weidenhaus Gunter/Witte, Nicole (Eds.)(2022): Biographie und Raum. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download








Gabriele, Rosenthal/Witte, Nicole (Hrsg.)(2021): Diagnose Entwicklungsstörung. Familiengeschichte – Familiendynamik – Professionelles Hilfesystem. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download








Bahl, Eva (2021): Verflochtene Geschichten im postkolonialen Grenzraum [Entangled Histories in a Postcolonial Border Region: Biographies, Belongings and Memory Practices in Ceuta and Melilla]. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download








Schäfer, Miriam (2021): Polizist*in werden - Polizist*in sein. Strukturen und Widersprüche polizeilicher Arbeit. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download









Hinrichsen, Hendrik (2020): Die Generation Oslo im Westjordanland
Historische Generationen in prozesssoziologischer Perspektive. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download









Bahl, Eva/Becker, Johannes (2020): Global processes of flight and migration. The explanatory power of case studies. / Globale Flucht- und Migrationsprozesse. Die Erklärungskraft von Fallstudien. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download








Bogner, Artur/Rosenthal, Gabriele (2019): Child Soldiers in Context. Biographies, Familial and Collective Trajectories in Northern Uganda. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download









Rosenthal, Gabriele (2018): Interpretive Social Research. An Introduction. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download










Rosenthal, Gabriele (Hrsg.)(2018): Established and Outsiders at the Same Time.
Self-Images and We-Images of Palestinians in the West Bank and in Israel. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
The volume is also available as a free download








Bogner, Artur/Rosenthal, Gabriele (2018): KindersoldatInnen im Kontext. Biographien, familien- und kollektivgeschichtliche Verläufe in Norduganda. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press. .
The volume is also available as a free download