A methodological design was chosen that permits rapid usage of initial results of surveyed data obtained for a large number of academics; a second step allows us to obtain more in-depth information in the further phases of research and analysis. The research process is thus divided into quantitative and qualitative survey and evaluation segments.
The first part of the study is an online-survey designed to assess the current situation and provide for extrapolation of the data to the general population on the basis of the sample size. For sample recruitment approximately 40,000 academics from 19 selected universities throughout Germany were personally contacted via e-Mail with a request to participate in this survey. A complete and comprehensive sampling of all academic staff at the selected institutions was sought. The goal being to obtain a similar amount of male academics to be included in the survey so as to attain differentiated data for the largest sample possible.
The second part of the study is comprised of a qualitative survey, which includes partially structured telephone interviews with 70 persons selected from the sample. The results of the online-survey will be used to inform the concept underlying the interview part of the study.
