Qualitative Research on AI with AI: Research Project with Students
The potential applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in the form of large language models, are currently a lively and controversial topic in qualitative social research. Many questions, including those related to data protection, research ethics, and methodological aspects associated with the use of new technologies, remain unresolved.
The research project "Qualitative Research on AI with AI" at the Department of Sociology, LMU Munich, aims to explore selected possibilities of AI-supported qualitative research in collaboration with students and to critically reflect on them. Questions such as how qualitative data can be generated, processed, summarized, and interpreted using AI in a responsible manner are central to our investigations. We also explore how well data is protected from misuse, how to assess, minimize, and ap-propriately communicate the risks of participating in a study that uses AI-supported technologies. Furthermore, we hope to clarify the responsibility that lies with researchers to critically review AI outputs and treat them as support for, but not replacements of, their own research activities.
Sociology students (BA/MA) will test an AI-supported interview tool (Qualia, Causal Map Ltd, UK). They will be trained to implement and document processes of informed consent both orally and in writing. Other students will be invited to participate in an interview study on "Attitudes towards AI," where they can choose whether to be interviewed with or without AI support. Those who opt for an interview with AI will subsequently be interviewed by a human interviewer about their experiences. Participants in the study may also choose to be interviewed entirely without the use of AI, allowing us to also capture perspectives that are sceptical, critical or opposed to the new technologies.
The project's objectives are thus two-fold: methodological and topic-related. We pursue the follow-ing questions:
- How can artificial intelligence be utilized for qualitative social research, and what problems and limitations exist?
- How do students assess the potentials and limits of artificial intelligence from their perspec-tive, and how do they evaluate an interview experience with AI?
Project duration:
04/2024 – 3/2025
Project Team
- Prof. Dr. Hella von Unger unger@lmu.de
- PD Dr. Yves Jeanrenaud yves.jeanrenaud@soziologie.uni-muenchen.de
- Thomas Raucheger, BA thomas.raucheger@soziologie.lmu.de
- As well as students from the courses in the BA and MA programs in which the research project is implemented.
Funding:
Internal funds from the Department of Sociology at LMU.