Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), data from 1984-2016 (international version)

DOI

Version

33.1i

Resource Type

Dataset

Creator

Publication Date

2018-01-22

Publication Place

Berlin

Contributor

Classification

Free Keywords

Political Attitudes and Behavior; Work and Industry; Occupation; Profession; Income; Society; Culture; Family; Education; School Systems; Leisure

Description

Abstract

The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study is a wide-ranging representative longitudinal study of private households, located at the German Institute for Economic Research, DIW Berlin. Every year, there were nearly 15,000 households, and more than 25,000 persons sampled by the fieldwork organization TNS Infratest Sozialforschung. The data provide information on all household members, consisting of Germans living in the Eastern and Western German States, foreigners, and immigrants to Germany. The Panel was started in 1984. Some of the many topics include household composition, occupational biographies, employment, earnings, health and satisfaction indicators. As early as June 1990—even before the Economic, Social and Monetary Union—SOEP expanded to include the states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), thus seizing the rare opportunity to observe the transformation of an entire society. Also immigrant samples were added in 1994/95 and 2013/2015 to account for the changes that took place in Germany society. Two samples of refugees were introduced in 2016. Further new samples were added in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. The survey is constantly being adapted and developed in response to current social developments. The international version contains 95% of all cases surveyed.

Temporal Coverage

Geographic Coverage

Sampled Universe

Persons living in private households in Germany

Sampling

All samples of SOEP are multi-stage random samples which are regionally clustered. The respondents (households) are selected by random-walk.

Time Dimension

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview
The interview methodology of the SOEP is based on a set of pre-tested questionnaires for households and individuals. Principally an interviewer tries to obtain face-to-face interviews with all members of a given survey household aged 16 years and over. Additionally one person (head of household) is asked to answer a household related questionnaire covering information on housing, housing costs, and different sources of income. This covers also some questions on children in the household up to 16 years of age, mainly concerning attendance at institutions (kindergarten, elementary school, etc.)

Data and File Information

Note

Number of datasets: 439

Availability

Delivery

Data and documents are only released for academic research and teaching after the data depositor's written authorization.

Relations

Publications

Wagner, Gert G.; Goebel, Jan; Krause, Peter; Pischner, Rainer; Sieber, Ingo: Das Sozio-oekonomische Panel (SOEP): Multidisziplinäres Haushaltspanel und Kohortenstudie für Deutschland - Eine Einführung (für neue Datennutzer) mit einem Ausblick (für erfahrene Anwender). In: AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv2008, Volume 4, p. 301-328. (Article)
Wagner, Gert G.; Frick, Joachim R.; Schupp, Jürgen: The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) – Scope, Evolution and Enhancements. In: Schmollers Jahrbuch (Journal of Applied Social Science Studies)2007, Volume 127, p. 139-169. (Article)
Schupp, Jürgen: 25 Jahre Sozio-oekonomisches Panel - Ein Infrastrukturprojekt der empirischen Sozial- und Wirtschaftsforschung in Deutschland. In: Zeitschrift für Soziologie2009, Volume 38, p. 350-357. (Article)

Update Metadata: 2018-02-02 | Issue Number: 5 | Registration Date: 2018-02-20