Qualitative methods have become well established in cultural, art and social sciences and in doing so provide indispensable contributions to research. For a long time now it has been impossible to imagine labour market and occupational research without the use of qualitative methods. With the expansion in evaluation research in the 1990s IAB has been systematically reflecting on and employing qualitative methods. The extension of research to include the basic income support scheme in 2005 brought new issues with it which made the use of qualitative methods increasingly more necessary. At IAB, qualitative research is not limited to the use of established procedures. Rather, again and again advanced approaches have been taken up and developed further, for instance in the area of qualitative panel methods or with the identification of ideal types at the interface between qualitative and quantitative analyses.

The "Qualitative Methods" Working Group in employment and occupational research, which was set up in 2012, intends to take up and promote these developments both within and outside the Institute. Among the fields of activity of this working group are the connection between qualitative and quantitative methods as well as scientific exchange on, and the testing of new methods.