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The article concentrates on the most essential elements of a social science as research, whereby research is strictly interpreted as the verification of a theory in a particular field but neither as "theorie sans terrain" nor "terrain sans theorie". Yet even if this particular employment in the field of social science is explicitly conceived of as privileging the logic of discovery and the strictures of proof in opposite to all preconstructed themes, theories and traditions of different disciplines, it cannot simply be reduced to the standpoint of pure logic. Engagement for social science as reflexive research means to further its practical, political acceptance by using the results obtained from research, means fighting for her autonomisation in terms of contributing to the creation of appropriate forms of sociability for its activities and reception (such as the formation of a reading public, discussion forums, effective tools with which to combat social barriers to the attainment of knowledge, etc.). ; The article concentrates on the most essential elements of a social science as research, whereby research is strictly interpreted as the verification of a theory in a particular field but neither as "theorie sans terrain" nor "terrain sans theorie". Yet even if this particular employment in the field of social science is explicitly conceived of as privileging the logic of discovery and the strictures of proof in opposite to all preconstructed themes, theories and traditions of different disciplines, it cannot simply be reduced to the standpoint of pure logic. Engagement for social science as reflexive research means to further its practical, political acceptance by using the results obtained from research, means fighting for her autonomisation in terms of contributing to the creation of appropriate forms of sociability for its activities and reception (such as the formation of a reading public, discussion forums, effective tools with which to combat social barriers to the attainment of knowledge, etc.).

This text was published as a book chapter in the publication "Praxishandbuch Open Access" ("Open Access Handbook") edited by Konstanze Söllner and Bernhard Mittermaier. It reflects the current state of Open Access to text publications, data and software in the Social Sciences.

In the social sciences, the development of a specific social event or structure is often explained by a statistical correlation between an independent variable and a variable assumed to be dependent upon it. This mode of explanation is contested by a methodology of causal reconstruction that operates with the concept of mechanisms. A mechanism is a process in which a set of linked steps leads from initial conditions to an outcome or effect. Mechanisms are general concepts, subjecting individual cases to a general category. Except for the literature dealing specifically with the concept, the term "mechanism" is often used without definition of its substantive content; there is no agreement with respect to the unique or plural character of the initial conditions, nor to the structure of the causal path leading to a specific outcome. Nevertheless, mechanisms have played a crucial role in detailed causal analysis of complex historical events, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and German unification of 1989.

"Big Data" ist in aller Munde. Zeitungen, Zeitschriften und Bücher greifen das Thema auf; es wird viel debattiert. Wie fundamental die Umwälzungen sind, die mit der Datenflut einhergehen, dringt erst seit kurzem ins öffentliche Bewusstsein. Was aber bedeutet "Big Data" für die Politikwissenschaft? Welche Herausforderungen stellen sich?Der Sammelband trägt politikwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf neue Entwicklungen zusammen, um zur Diskussion darüber beizutragen, welche Art von Veränderungen der Arbeitsweisen, Erkenntnismöglichkeiten und Erkenntnisprozesse empirischer politikwissenschaftlicher Forschung sich aufgrund der Möglichkeiten der Digitalisierung ergeben haben. Der Ausrichtung der Sektion Methoden folgend ist der Band vorrangig auf die methodisch-technischen, weniger auf die moralischen und gesellschaftspolitischen Dimensionen des Gesamtthemas Big Data und New Analytics ausgerichtet.Mit Beiträgen vonFlorian Bader, Joachim Behnke, Andreas Blätte, Sebastian Dumm, Mennatallah El-Assady, Thorsten Faas, Valentin Gold, Simon Hegelich, Christian Hoops, Pascal Jürgens, Andreas Jungherr, Cathleen Kantner, Kelly Lancaster, Christian Müller, Simon Munzert, Dominic Nyhuis, Maximilian Overbeck, Christian Rohrdantz, Christian Rubba, Gary S. Schaal, Kai-Uwe Schnapp, Susanne Schnorr-Bäcker, Harald Schoen, Andree Thieltges und Claudius Wagemann.