Research competence (RC) as a key ability of students in the social sciences has thus far been conceptualized as consisting primarily of cognitive dispositions. However, owing to its highly complex and demanding nature, competence in conducting research might require additional affective and motivational dispositions. To address this deficiency in the literature, first, we conducted a qualitative interview study with academic experts (N = 16) in which we asked them to identify challenging research situations and the affective-motivational research dispositions needed to cope with them. We employed a subsequent online rating (N = 27) to evaluate the situations and dispositions that had been identified. The resulting affective-motivational facet of RC encompasses six challenging situations that are often encountered and nine dispositions that are necessary to successfully conduct research in the social sciences and may be used to both inform and evaluate research-based learning. The interview-based approach may serve as an exemplary procedure to postulate affective-motivational facets of competence models.

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Research-based learning (RBL) is regarded as a panacea when it comes to effective instructional formats in higher education settings. It is said to improve a wide set of research-related skills and is a recommended learning experience for students. However, whether RBL in the social sciences is indeed as effective as has been postulated for other disciplines has not yet been systematically examined. We thus administered a pre-post-test study to N = 952 students enrolled in 70 RBL courses at 10 German universities and examined potential changes in cognitive and affective-motivational research dispositions. Latent change score modelling indicated that students increased their cognitive research dispositions, whereas most affective-motivational research dispositions decreased. The instructors' interest in the students' work served as a significant predictor of changes in research interest and joy. Practical implications for designing RBL environments can be inferred from the results.

Obwohl die Befähigung zu eigenständiger Forschung ein zentrales Ziel des Studiums ist, fehlt es in den Sozialwissenschaften an einem theoretischen Modell von Forschungskompetenz. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde ein fach- und paradigmenübergreifendes Modell sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschungskompetenz in einem sequenziellen Mixed-Methods-Design entwickelt: Mittels Experteninterviews (n = 4) wurden erforderliche Kompetenzdimensionen identifiziert und mittels schriftlicher Expertenbefragung (n = 8) ausdifferenziert. Die Bedeutsamkeit der Modellbestandteile wurde über ein Expertenrating (n = 80) untersucht. Im Ergebnis konnte ein Modell mit den Kompetenzdimensionen Forschungsprozess-, Methoden- und methodologisches Wissen abgeleitet werden. Diese Dimensionen sind für die Forschungstätigkeiten der Problemherleitung, Forschungsplanung, Datenauswertung und -interpretation entscheidend.

Abstract. Although the development of research competency is an important goal of higher education in social sciences, instruments to measure this outcome often depend on the students’ self-ratings. To provide empirical evidence for the utility of a newly developed instrument for the objective measurement of social-scientific research competency, two validation studies across two independent samples were conducted. Study 1 ( n = 675) provided evidence for unidimensionality, expected differences in test scores between differently advanced groups of students as well as incremental validities over and above self-perceived research self-efficacy. In Study 2 ( n = 82) it was demonstrated that the competency measured indeed is social-scientific and relations to facets of fluid and crystallized intelligence were analyzed. Overall, the results indicate that the test scores reflected a trainable, social-scientific, knowledge-related construct relevant to research performance. These are promising results for the application of the instrument in the evaluation of research education courses in higher education.