General Online Research conference (GOR 20)

Are you working on research on online and mobile web survey methodology, online market research, Big Data and data science, or public opinion research, politics and online communication? Then submit your abstract to GOR, the international conference on online research. Join us in Berlin, Germany's buzzing capital.

Main topics: Online and Mobile Web Surveys, Data Science, Big Data, Smart Data, Political Research, Public Opinion, Political Online Communication, Online Market Research

GOR is organized by the German Society for Online Research (DGOF, https://www.dgof.de/) since 1997. Each year more than 300 participants attend the conference to discuss current developments in online research and best practices for their work in industry and academia. With more than 100 presentations addressing various subtopics of online research, GOR provides intensive training and networking opportunities.

Local Organizer: HTW Berlin – University of Applied Sciences, Prof. Dr. Holger Lütters

Conference Topics
This year’s conference seeks submissions in:

Survey Research: Advancements in Online and Mobile Web Surveys (Track A)
Data Science: From Big Data to Smart Data (Track B)
Politics, Public Opinion, and Communication (Track C)

The program committee invites presenters from industry, academia, official statistics, government agencies, and other sectors to submit their work for presentation. Submissions will be accepted on the basis of a double-blind peer review process.

Submission Types

1. Survey Research: Advancements in Online and Mobile Web Surveys (Track A): We welcome presentations that advance the methodology of online and mobile web surveys. Topics include, for example, online panel quality and panel research, mobile web surveys, survey design and survey gamification, data collection, and the use of paradata, coverage, sampling, nonresponse, measurement, adjustment, weighting, and automation in survey research. Submissions come from diverse fields such as market research, sociology, political science, psychology, and computer sciences, and they make use of various quantitative and qualitative approaches, online experiments, content analysis, etc. Contributions that show how online and mobile web surveys perform compared to classical approaches (face to face, telephone, paper) are especially welcome. Upon submission, authors can indicate whether they want their papers to be considered for publication in a special issue on Advancements in Online and Mobile Web Surveys for the peer-reviewed journal Survey Methods: Insights from the Field (SMIF) (https://www.gor.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CfP_DGOF_SMIF_2019.pdf).

2. Data Science: From Big Data to Smart Data (Track B): We welcome submissions with a focus on the use of large and complex data sets in conjunction with traditional survey data collection methods or as stand-alone applications to answer research questions in the social sciences, market research, and related fields, both in quantitative and qualitative research. Presentations will cover a broad range of topics related to data generation (e.g., data mining, web scraping, use of sensors and wearables, Internet-of-Things), data curation and storage (e.g., database management, data munging, record linkage), data analysis (e.g., predictive analytics, computational social sciences, machine learning, content and sentiment analysis, geospatial analytics), and data output and access (e.g., data visualization, data confidentiality and statistical disclosure control, data security, ethics). Latest techniques and developments, theoretical approaches, case studies, applications, and discussions of best practices in different fields (e.g., social network analysis, mobile ethnography, behaviour tracking, analysis of online search data, business intelligence, administrative data) are all welcome.

3. Politics, Public Opinion and Communication (Track C): We welcome submissions that are at the intersection of research on politics, public opinion, and communication on the one hand and online research on the other. Topics relevant to this track include (but are not limited to) trends in public opinion and political attitudes, patterns of online news consumption, communication in election campaigns, the role of social media and bots for political discourse, incivility and hate speech online, media effects on political attitudes and engagement, roots and consequences of misinformation and fake news, and methodological issues in using online data for political, public opinion, and communication research. Contributions that present new descriptive findings are as welcome as observational studies in general, experimental work, case studies, applications, or methodological innovations.

4. Best Practice Presentations (including the GOR Best Practice Award 2020 competition): We welcome real world case studies with a strong focus on online market research. Submissions using emerging market research methods such as, for example, wearable- and sensor-based research, biometric response, prediction markets, virtual reality, or Internet-of-Things, and innovative web survey designs that answer particular research questions are especially welcome. The case study should be presented by a representative of the research agency and, if possible, a representative of the company who commissioned the study. If the company representative is not available to attend the conference a short video by the company representative setting out the motivation for the study is obligatory to be included in the presentation. The abstract should particularly make clear what the results add to existing insights and knowledge. The abstract and the presentation slides must be in English. The presentation at the GOR conference can be held in English or in German. All submissions in this category are considered for the GOR Best Practice Award 2020. This is a prize for the best practice paper in online market research.

5. Posters (including the GOR Poster Award 2020 competition): Posters offer the opportunity to present late breaking research, highlight specific research findings, and discuss work in progress. Authors are expected to present their poster during a poster session. A poster may cover any of the topics of GOR. Posters will be on display for the duration of the conference. All submissions in this category are considered for the GOR Poster Award 2020.

6. Thesis Presentations (including the GOR Thesis Award 2020 competition): Up to 3 bachelor/master/diploma theses and up to 3 doctoral theses will be presented at GOR in this category. Selected authors will present their findings at the GOR conference and the best ones will be awarded a prize for the best doctoral thesis and for the best bachelor/master/diploma thesis. The conference fee is waived for all presenters in this category. Accommodation and travelling fees need to be covered by the contestants. Theses must have been submitted in 2018 or 2019. The thesis language can be either English or German, but the presentation shall be in English. Submissions for the GOR Thesis Award 2020 competition should include the thesis as PDF-file, an extended anonymized abstract (limited to 7000 characters (including spaces) in English), a cover letter in English written by the contestant with details on affiliation, degree programme, supervisors, graduation date, and mark received for the thesis together with an agreement to present the results at the GOR conference. A Thesis Award Jury will select presenters and winners.

Deadlines

• 15 November 2019: Deadline for abstract submissions for presentations in tracks A, B, C, and GOR Thesis Award 2020 competition
• 3 December 2019: Deadline for abstract submissions for presentations in GOR Best Practice Award 2019 competition
• 23 January 2020: Deadline for abstract submissions for posters and GOR Poster Award 2020 competition
• 31 January 2020: Deadline for early registration and presenting author registration (usually the first author)