AK Methods
Welcome to the website of the Working Group on Empirical Methods in Peace and Conflict Research!
Peace and conflict research has recently undergone great methodological development. A large number of new data collection and analysis methods have been developed, but at the same time there are also strong efforts to improve the transparency and replicability of these methods. These are major challenges for both quantitative and qualitative research, which will strongly characterise the scientific discourse in the coming years.
In this working group, we would like to specifically address methodological challenges and problems in our work. Our focus is on a scientific, open-ended approach to peace and conflict research that is based on theory-led empirical studies. The methodological exchange should help to bridge the gaps between qualitative and quantitative peace and conflict research. The working group sees itself as a place of exchange and mutual learning.
Contact
The current speakers are:
Constantin Ruhe
(Goethe-University Frankfurt)
Julia Leib
(University Leipzig)
Mailing list
The working group has a mailing list for mutual exchange and information. You can subscribe to this list yourself.
News / Announcements
The working group will be represented with two panels at the AFK Colloquium 2025 in Landau (Palatinate).
- “Designing Effective Peacebuilding Interventions”, Wednesday (19.03.25), 4:30-6:00pm
- “The Ambiguous Effect of Coercion”, Thursday (20.03.25), 2:00-3:30pm
Content (literature / conference paper)
The working group organises two regular annual meetings to enable an exchange within the working group and with the other AFK members. The annual workshop takes place in autumn at the various participating universities/institutes. At these meetings, a special form of presentation is used to fulfil the aim of the working group. Pairs of papers on similar topics and with a similar regional focus, but using different methods, are to be brought together in a panel. The methodology should be the focus of these presentations (but not necessarily in the papers). A further meeting will take place during the annual AFK colloquia.
Archive
Programmes of previous workshops
2024: The Annual Workshop Empirical Research in Peace and Conflict was held in cooperation with the International Security and Development Center (ISDC). As an interdisciplinary event, the AFK Methods Workshop, the Annual Households in Conflict (HiCN) Workshop and the Fragile Lives Conference took place simultaneously in Berlin. See here for the program.
2023: Annual Workshop Empirical Research in Peace and Conflict held in cooperation with the Center for Crisis Early Warning (CCEW), University of the Bundeswehr Munich.
2022: Annual Workshop Empirical Research in Peace and Conflict held in cooperation with Aarhus University in Denmark. See here for our program
2021: Annual workshop Empirical Research on Peace and Conflict was jointly organized by the Goethe University Frankfurt and the University Potsdam and held virtually. See here for our program.
2020: Annual workshop Empirical Peace and Conflict Research at the Hertie School was held virtually. See here for our program.
2019: Annual workshop of our working group Empirical Methods in Peace and Conflict Research at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in Bonn. See here for our program.
2018: Workshop on New Qualitative and Quantitative Data in Peace and Conflict Research at the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg.
2017: Workshop (see here for program) on Mixed Methods Approaches To Studying Peace and Conflict at the University of Mannheim.
2016: Workshop on The Empirical Study of Peace and Conflict at the University of Konstanz.