The TyMin project has the central objective of systematically translating qualitative research findings, which are presented in the form of typologies, into a measurable, quantitative framework. Specifically, a measurement tool is being developed to assess the epistemological beliefs of teachers in humanities subjects. As such measurement tools have previously existed primarily for epistemological beliefs in the natural sciences, the project fills a significant research gap. It is a collaborative project between the LIfBi and the University of Bamberg. An interdisciplinary network of national and international partners supports the project team. Through this exchange, methodological challenges are reflected upon and work is being carried out to further develop the integration of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.

The TyMin project focuses on teachers’ personal beliefs – their individual views on what ‘knowledge’ actually is, how it is constructed, and how it is best learned and taught. Whilst tools already exist to measure these views in subjects such as mathematics or physics, there has been a near-total lack of such tools for the humanities (such as German, history or religion) until now. This is primarily because knowledge in these subjects is less tangible: there is often not one ‘correct’ solution, but many different ways to interpret, understand, decode and assign meaning to, for example, a poem or a historical event. Interpretations and meanings are therefore diverse and ambiguous, which presents teachers with particular challenges in the classroom. The TyMin project examines how they address these challenges in their day-to-day work and what beliefs, perspectives and ideas they hold in this regard.

In an earlier study, in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers, and using the documentary method, three types were identified of how teachers in humanities subjects deal with knowledge and differing perspectives and variations in meaning. In the TyMin project, these findings are now to be translated into a standardised questionnaire in order to generalise the distribution of these belief patterns on the basis of representative samples and to be able to statistically test correlative relationships, for example with regard to professional experience or school type. The central challenge lies in methodologically translating implicit (conjunctive) knowledge, of which teachers are often unaware, into standardised items

The TyMin project is systematically divided into four work packages in order to develop a quantitatively robust measurement tool. This involves combining various data collection and analysis methods as part of a mixed-methods approach.

The four work packages and their methods:

1. Item development: In this first crucial step, the qualitative typology – that is, the findings from the earlier teacher interviews – is translated into specific test questions or items. The particular challenge here is that teachers are often not reflexively aware of their own orientations, even though these orientations significantly shape their teaching practice. This is always taken into account when constructing the items.

2. Quality assurance: Before the questionnaire is deployed, it is thoroughly checked for comprehensibility (by teachers) and scientific accuracy (by an international team of experts).

3. Development study: The project team is investigating whether the patterns evident in the typology are also reflected in a sample of 600 teachers. In addition, the study examines how these beliefs relate, for example, to professional experience or the type of school.

4. Sharing results: The findings are continuously published in specialist journals and presented at conferences.

The data collection process in the TyMin project is structured in two phases: cognitive interviews (n = 40) to validate item comprehensibility are followed by a quantitative development study involving a total of 600 teachers (see ‘Procedure and Methods’).

Data protection is given the highest priority during data processing. To promote research transparency, the data will ultimately be made available in open-access repositories to the academic community.

• Project lead at LIfBi: Prof. Dr Jana Costa
• Grant application:
  • Prof. Dr Jana Costa (Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories Bamberg, LIfBi & University of Hildesheim)
  • Dr Caroline Rau (Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg)
• Project duration at LIfBi: 1 April 2026 – 31 March 2029
• Project duration at University of Bamberg: 1 February 2026 – 30 April 2029
• Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Link to this page: www.lifbi.de/TyMin