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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.

Long description: The booming increase of the senior population has become a social phenomenon and a challenge to our societies, and technological advances have undoubtedly contributed to improve the lives of elderly citizens in numerous aspects. Technology, however, has largely ignored the »human factor« and has often viewed the ageing individual as a malfunctioning machine whose deficiencies must be diagnosed - or as a set of limitations to be overcome by means of technological devices.This volume aims at focusing on the subjective needs and fears of human beings deriving from the development and use of technology: this change of perspective - taking the human being and not technology first - may help us to become more sensitive to the ambivalences involved in the interaction between humans and technology, as well as to adapt technologies to the people that created the need for its existence, thus contributing to improve the quality of life of senior citizens