Maurer, M. (2025). What is Prompting? (GESIS Guides to Digital Behavioral Data, 25). Cologne: GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.
https://doi.org/10.60762/ggdbd25025.1.0
This guide introduces the concept of prompting, that is, querying large language models (LLMs) using natural language. It presents and illustrates various prompting techniques with a running example, showcasing their differences and how they can be combined. Advanced techniques and concepts, such as reasoning models and persona prompting, are also discussed.
The guide concludes with a non-exhaustive list of risks and limitations that users should be aware of. It is intended for users who have a basic conceptual understanding of LLMs and wish to learn about different ways of prompting them for research purposes.
Overview of all available Guides to DBD:
https://www.gesis.org/en/gesis-guides/gesis-guides-to-digital-behavioral-data