Paul F. Lazarsfeld (1901-1976) is generally considered one of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century. Born in Vienna, where he studied mathematics, he immigrated to the United States in 1933. Between 1949 and 1969, he taught at Columbia University in New York, where he founded the Bureau of Applied Social Research. Throughout his carreer, Paul Lazarsfeld has made major contributions to social survey research, mathematical sociology, methodology and the study of mass communication and voting behavior.
 

In honour of Paul Lazarsfeld's contribution to social scientific research, the department of sociology of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), in collaboration with the Institute for Social and Political Opinion research (ISPO) and the scientific research community on comparative an longitudinal research of the FWO are organizing an international symposium.

At the symposium 25 invited speakers, all of them top researchers in their field, will present a comprehensive overview of recent developments in one of six fields of research in which Paul Lazarsfeld has been active. More specifically, the symposium consists of six sessions dealing with:

  1. Measurement (models), operationalization and survey research methods
  2. Causal inference, multivariate research and multilevel analysis
  3. Panel and longitudinal research
  4. Triangulation, integration of quantitative and qualitative research methods
  5. Electoral research
  6. Research on media-effects

The opening presentation of the symposium will be given by Prof. Dr. Jonathan Cole, a distinguished scholar and former colleague of Paul Lazarsfeld from Columbia University.

For more details about the presentations, please refer to the programme page, which can be reached via the navigation bar at the left side of this page.

 
The symposium will take place on Friday 4 June and Saturday 5 June 2004 in Brussels, Belgium. The venue page provides more information about the symposium venue as well as how to reach it.
The registration fee is 50 € per symposium day or 80 € for both days. Registration fees include a sandwich lunch.
The hotels page provides some information about hotel accomodation near the symposium venue.
For your information:
some of the powerpoint presentations
have been put on-line
on the programme pages
Last update: 07 June 2004