ABSTRACT
Conceptions of defence and defence policies have been changing during the last decades. Defence and security politicians as well as military practitioners whose task it is to adopt military organizations to new economic, social, political, and cultural conditions are facing diverse and unknown challenges. Sociological and social science research in general, especially quantitative research like surveys among soldiers or public opinion research, are increasingly becoming an indispensable resource for shaping the adoption process and decision-making processes in the military field, for instance in the area of recruitment and retention of service personnel. The article gives an overview on (empirical) sociological methods in defence-related research. Since the classical studies on “The American Soldier” in the end of World War II, the military and defence organizations are – compared to other social institutions – often object to social research and quite well investigated. The reasons therefore will be shown up in this article. While sociological research methods in the military field in a narrower sense do not substantially differ from research methods in general and in other social fields (like for instance organization studies), defence research of course has some peculiarities concerning access to the field, collaboration between principals and agents in research projects, and last but not least the utilization of the results. The characteristics of this research are elaborated in the article, too.
