The GOR 26, which started on Thursday, February 26, 2026 at Rheinische Hochschule Köln, successfully concluded today, Friday, February 27, after more than 80 presentations, poster presentations, and workshops. Around 250 participants attended the conference. The organizers, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Online-Forschung e. V. (DGOF) and RH Köln, are very satisfied with their joint event.

As with every GOR, the presentation of the Conference Awards for outstanding achievements in the field of online research receives significant attention:

The GOR Impact and Innovation Award (formerly GOR Best Practice, sposered by DGOF) was presented for the first time for an outstanding market research case from initiation to implementation to Sarah Goto & Thomas Kopf (MCM Klosterfrau), Oliver Tabino (Q-Agentur für Forschung), Jonathan Heinemann (horizoom), David Ranftler & Paul Wesendonk (xelper) for their project Scaling Qualitative Depth: A Large-Scale Validation Study Comparing AI-Moderated Interviews and Conventional Surveys in OTC Pharma Research.

Since 2010, the GOR Poster Award has been presented annually to the best posters submitted to GOR. This year, the award, endowed with €500, went to the contribution Comparing Probability and Nonprobability Online Surveys: Data Quality and Fieldwork Processes by Emma Fössing, Lukas Olbrich, Stefan Zins and Jörg Drechsler (IAB).

A total of 22 posters competed in the contest. The winners were selected by an expert jury based on scientific relevance, methodological quality, and presentation.

The GOR Poster Award 2026 was sponsored by horizoom. We thank the sponsor for their support and warmly congratulate the award winners on their recognition.

The GOR Thesis Award has also been presented annually since 2015. This year’s award for the best Master’s thesis was given to Anna Fuchs (LMU) for her project AI for Survey Design: Generating and Evaluating Survey Questions with Large Language Models. In the competition for the best PhD thesis, Leah von der Hyde (LMU) prevailed with her work Who Counts? Survey Data Quality in the Age of AI. The sponsor of the GOR Thesis Award 2026 is Bilendi. The winners also receive prize money of €500 each.

The Best Paper Award 2025 of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Online-Forschung and sponsered by DGOF was also presented. The award, worth €500 and honoring outstanding scientific contributions to online research, went this year to Simson, J., et al. (2025) for the paper Preventing Harmful Data Practices by using Participatory Input to Navigate the Machine Learning Multiverse. Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 806, 1–30.

https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713482

Best of Fams winners: The trainee market and social research assistants from Kaufmännische Berufsschule 4 in Nürnberg Olivia Hettrich, Florian Moog, Leon Urban, and Maximilian Aulbach presented their award-winning FAMS project: Ergebnispräsentation. Zufriedenheitsstudie Alten-Akademie 2024.

Contact:

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Online-Forschung e.V. (DGOF)
Huhnsgasse 34b, D-50676 Köln
Tel.: +49(0)221-27 23 18-180

Further information about DGOF and GOR at: www.dgof.de
and www.gor.de

The Conference Proceedings for GOR 26 were published today. They can now be accessed online:

We are thrilled to announce that the programme for GOR 26 is now available!

Get ready for cutting-edge insights, inspiring talks, and plenty of opportunities to connect with the online research community.

Four English language Workshops
Wednesday, 25 February 2026 | GESIS, Cologne

From AI-driven qualitative interviews to visual data analysis and vibe coding hands-on, practical, and future-oriented.

• WS 1: Bruno Recht (Userfix): AI-Conducted Research: Hands-On Workshop on Automated Qualitative Interviews
• WS 2: Ali Reza Hussaini & Asli Telli (Universität Leipzig): Vibe Coding for Online Research: From Findings to Interactive, Open, and Participatory Portals
• WS 3: David Ranftler & Paul Wesendonk (xelper): AI-Technologies for Qualitative Data Analysis
• WS 4: Katrin Horn & Hendrik Giebner (Human8): What matters in pictures – A hands-on guide to AI-empowered analysis of visual input

What to expect at GOR 26 at RH Cologne

• 80+ carefully selected presentations
• GOR Thesis Award | DGOF Best Paper Award | Poster Award | Impact & Innovation Award
• Two on-site DGOF KI-Forum sessions
• Special Curated Session on Knowledge Management
• Early Career Speed Networking Event

Programme Topics include:

• Data quality, measurement error & response behavior
• Sampling, recruitment & online panel stability
• Smartphone & sensor-based data collection
• Video, image & audio in web surveys
• Digital trace data & data linkage
• AI & Machine Learning in qualitative & survey research
• Market & customer research innovations
• Public opinion & media analysis

Inspiring Keynote

We are proud to welcome Dr. Katharina Schüller, CEO of STAT-UP and leading expert in Data Science, AI & Statistics. In her keynote, she will explore the opportunities and challenges of AI in online research.

Curated Session: Knowledge Management

How can organisations turn data into actionable insights?
Join experts from ARD, Deutsche Welle & Uranos GmbH for real-world case studies and forward-thinking strategies.

Two sessions of DGOF KI-Forum

• Inspiration Session (EN): synthetic data, agentic AI & best practices
• World Café (DE): interactive exchange on AI opportunities & limits

Lively discussions guaranteed.

Early Career Speed Networking

A fun and informal networking event for PhD students and early-career professionals (≤ 5 years in the field).
Perfect for first-time GOR participants.

Legendary GOR Party in Blue Shell

Registration via ConfTool

Super Early Bird Discount – Register Now!

• Deadline: 31 December 2025 (Super Early Bird)
• Early Bird until 13 January 2026

Secure your spot via ConfTool now!

We can’t wait to see you at GOR 26 for inspiring sessions, great discussions, and loads of fun.

Infos & Contact
Conference website: https://www.gor.de/
Email: office@dgof.de