Research
The Kurt Lewin Foundation has been conducting social research projects since 1998 both independently and in cooperation with its partners. Most studies are based on interviews, observations, and questionnaires using a nation-wide representative sample. The foundation has also used the focus group method on several occasions in their research projects.
Monitoring of 'Lakmusz' program (2009)
The Kurt Lewin Foundation on behalf of the National Employment Foundation monitored the 'Lakmusz' program which aimed to assist the social and labour market related integration of young people living in state custody or just leaving it and a significant proportion of whose is Roma. Besides assuring training and background support to the young people the Foundation carried out the renovation and alteration of out-of-use objects.
Monitoring and presentation of Soros Roma-programs (2008)
The knowledge basis created by the Kurt Lewin Foundation, which monitors the outcome of the programs from their start in 1993 up to 2003, processes a dozen of the Roma-related programs of the Soros Foundation. While browsing the interviews, film fragments and documents, we can get to know the decision-makers, experts and the foundation employees working on different projects, moreover we can have an insight into the antecedents and the after-life of some successful tenders. The material provides the future Roma-programs with some useful information and advice.
Back to society?(2007)
Monitoring project about the programs for the reintegration of ex-prisoners for the National Employment Foundation.
Media Representation of Migrants and Minorities (2006)
International research program organized and financed by the Kurt Lewin Foundation.
Comparative analysis on Roma, Sinti, Gypsies and Travellers in public education (2005)
Research for the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.
The Social Security System on the Threshold of Information Society (MITSESZ, 2005)
The MITSESZ (2005) project directly concerns the social security system. This in-depth examination will help determine the course IT development, training, and content should take in the development of the institution system. The research project will make a direct contribution to establishing the appropriate IT strategy and as a result, people engaged in the social sphere will have equal access to information. The project intends to help ensure that all institutions become information terminals rather than information end-points.
Students with Disabilities in Tertiary Education (2004)
Appointed by the Office of the Commissioner for Educational Rights, the Kurt Lewin Foundation conducted a research project in January 2005 with focus on students with disabilities in tertiary education.
Developing the IT Infrastructure of Minority Self-Governments (2004)
The Ministry of Informatics and Telecommunications (IHM) announced a tender for the Development of the Infrastructure of Minority Self-Governments in 2003. As a result, more than one thousand minority self-governments had been given computers and other IT devices. By monitoring the programme, the Kurt Lewin Foundation had greatly contributed to the attainment of the goal to enable minority self-governments to successfully fulfil their roles in laying down the foundations of a knowledge based society. The compilation of the self-complete questionnaire that was used for the survey was based on qualitative methods (interviews and observations). The results of the research were primarily used to map out the operating conditions of minority self-governments, the computer literacy and use of info-communication means of government members.
Finding Your Way in the Labyrinth – Research on the Ethical Socialisation of Adolescents (2004)
Commissioned by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) and the Pedagogy-Psychology Department of the University of Veszprém, the Kurt Lewin Foundation had conducted a questionnaire study on a representative sample of 1,500 students in grades seven and ten.
Teachers in Public Education (2003)
With support from Phare Access Microprojects and the Ministry of Education, the Foundation conducted a questionnaire survey on a nation-wide representative sample of 1,466 elementary-school teachers with the aim of identifying teachers’ attitudes to and knowledge of Roma minority groups, the European Union, and the effective legal provisions relating to education.
The Disadvantaged in Public Education (2003)
Appointed by the Ministry of Education, the Foundation had conducted a nation-wide research on education rights entitled: The Disadvantaged in Public Education. The aim of the programme was to reveal legal anomalies in public education that may affect disadvantaged students.
Monoszló (2002)
By appointment of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Foundation had prepared in-depth interviews and run questionnaire surveys in Monoszló under close supervision of Zsuzsa Ferge.
Vindication of Parental Rights (2001)
By appointment of the Office of the Commissioner for Educational Rights, the Foundation ran a nation-wide research project in the 2001-2002 school year. 120 interviews and 2,325 completed questionnaires were processed in the project. When the Act on Public Education was amended in the summer of 2003, the research findings of the Kurt Lewin Foundation were also taken into consideration by the law makers.
Student Rights and Teacher Rights (2000)
In the 2000-2001 school year the Foundation was requested by the Office of the Commissioner for Educational Rights to conduct a nation-wide sociology research project on Student and Teachers’ Rights (2000) designed to examine conflict management in schools. In the research project 1,460 questionnaires were completed and approximately 100 interviews were made.
Democratic School (1999)
The first independent research programme of the Foundation was a Pécs study based on interviews, observations, and questionnaires designed to expose the attitudes, social understanding, and conflict managing techniques of secondary-school children of the town. There was a total of 1,754 questionnaires to reach every single grade-11 secondary-school student of the town.
Knowledge about and Attitudes toward the Visegrád Four in Hungary (2001)
By appointment of the Visegrád Fund, the Hungarian Gallup Institution conducted a data survey using representative samples from Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The Hungarian data were analysed by the Kurt Lewin Foundation upon request of the Research Institute for World Economics. The study was designed to map out respondents’ knowledge about and attitudes toward the Visegrád Four.
Remedial Education (1998)
This study was prepared by appointment of the Ministry of Culture and Public Education (today: Ministry of Education) and under the guidance of ELTE’s Institute of Sociology. The Kurt Lewin Foundation was responsible for compiling questions on social studies and for the analysis of answers. The study was coordinated and overseen by György Csepeli, Mária Székelyi, and Antal Örkény. The data survey was designed to measure the effectiveness of remedial education programmes run in certain Hungarian schools by comparing students’ knowledge.
National Identity (1995)
In 1995 the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) examined the attitudes of a sample of 31,000 subjects in 26 countries to national identity, other countries and nationalities. Colleagues at the Foundation were engaged in mapping out the national identity and pride, possible ethnocentrism or xenophobia existing among Hungarians by analysing the Hungarian data.
Research methods
During the course of research and study projects of the Foundation, we applied the research methods of social sciences, the findings are all results of objective observations and measurements. This, however, does not mean that our approach or our commitment to a particular subject matter had been value neutral. Our aim in every case is to discover methods and procedures whose practical application serves the consolidation of the democratic social system in Hungary and helps the region converge with the rest of the European Union.
The mission of our research and study projects is not only to describe the various social phenomena (and anomalies) present in Hungary today, but also to reveal the root causes. When approaching the problems and the subject people of our observations, we always strive to understand the motivations and particular situations. For this reason it is particularly not our aim to identify a scapegoat or an enemy. Quite to the contrary, we would like to persuade as many people (particularly teachers, social workers, public servants, decision makers) as possible to support the cause of social integration of disadvantaged groups. integrating.
"Methodology - Researching social phenomena" hardback book published by Osiris Kiadó
[ISBN 963-389-788-2]