Research Areas and ProjectsCuDOS encompasses three broad research fields: Education and Youth, Gender, Sexuality and Sexual Minorities, and Cultural Sociology and Lifestyle.https://www.ugent.be/ps/sociologie/en/research/cudos/research-areashttps://www.ugent.be/++resource++plone-logo.svg
Research Areas and Projects
Education and Youth
Focus
The research area Education and Youth focuses on different aspects of the daily life of young people, taking education as the main context and stressing different forms of inequality, in particular inequalities related to socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender and sexual inclination.
The main focus is on:
The role of school culture on educational attitudes
The nature and consequences of processes of tracking and streaming
The effect of ethnic segregation in education on educational and wider outcomes
Racism and discrimination in school
School and individual characteristics and gender inequalities in educational and wider
Research methods
The main focus is on the collection and analysis of large, representative datasets.
At the same time, small-scale qualitative and ethnographic case studies in educational settings are used to explore the complex processes that underpin the development of educational and wider outcomes.
Gender, Sexuality and Sexual Minorities
Focus
Throughout the years, gender, sexuality and sexual minorities are approached within the context of different theoretical frames, such as sexual health, social biology, epidemiology and educational sociology.
The main focus is on:
Gender inequalities in social institutions and the interaction between the biological sex and the social and cultural construction of gender
Sexual identity, sexual perception and sexual behavior, both on the individual and the structural level
Inequality because of sexual orientation in educational settings
Sexual and mental health of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals (LGB) in Flanders
Research methods
The main focus is on small-scale qualitative and ethnographic case studies.
At the same time, the collection and analysis of large, representative datasets are used to explore the complex processes related to gender, sexuality, and sexual minorities.
Cultural Sociology and Lifestyle
Focus
The research area Cultural Sociology and Lifestyle conducts research on cultural behavior and cultural experience. The main focus is on the relationship with the social space, omnivority and lifestyles.
Research methods
The team collects data both through audience research and through large-scale representative population studies, and is involved in various inter-university research consortia. Emphasis is on both fundamental research and applied policy research.
In addition, methodological research is conducted on designs for maximizing response, question wording and the application of complex statistical techniques.
The team has extensive expertise in standard survey methodology and quantitative analysis, multilevel analysis, nonparametric methods, latent class analysis, network analysis and multiple correspondence analysis.
