German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP)

Summary

The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) is a household panel study like the PSID (Panel study of Income Dynamics in the US) and the BHPS (British Household Panel Study). Since the SOEP was – from the very beginning – designed with the intention to be used by national and international researches (cf. http://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/60184/diw_sp0001.pdf:7f), its availability and usability for English-speaking researchers is excellent. It contains a wide variety of topics and a combination of objective and subjective indicators. Since life satisfaction has been assessed since 1984, one of the strengths of the SOEP is the possibility to analyse changes in life satisfaction over time and with regard to life events. Trend and cross-sectional analysis are also possible. The assessment of domain-specific satisfaction allows for more detailed analyses. It is positive that the SOEP assesses emotional wellbeing since 2007, however, the measurement limits analysis to four basic emotions and may not be able to capture emotional wellbeing in old age and among the oldest old. Taking into consideration that a variety of life domains and expectations are assessed, the SOEP allows for analysing determinants of wellbeing, as well as consequences of wellbeing differences. Since regional indicators can be matched, the interplay of individual and environmental factors on wellbeing can be analysed. Although the SOEP continues to interview participants after moving into institutional settings, the data is not representative for this sub-population with specific housing needs and mobility limitations.

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Survey same
Survey different

Data gathering method
Face-to-face
Self administered questionnaire

Access to data

Conditions of access
On site access, downloadable files, DVD/CD after agreement, open access, data available only for scientific community, etc. In accordance with the data protection law, the individual SOEP data sets cannot be downloaded directly from the homepage. Moreover, the data are also subject to regulations limiting their use to scientific purposes. A DVD will be sent via certified mail for a price of 30€ + 8€ forwarding expenses.

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
anonymised microdata

Formats available
The microdata from the Socio-Economic Panel are available in CSV, SAS, SPSS, and STATA format. Due to the large volume of data, they can only be analysed effectively using statistical software (SPSS; Stata; R; SAS and others).

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
The SOEP consists of a complex system of partial samples which have been integrated in different years into the panel. Sub-Samples: • Sample A: Residents in the FRG (1984) • Sample B: Foreigners in the FRG (1984) sample size A + B= 12,245 individuals • Sample C: German Residents in the GDR (1990), sample size of 4,453 individuals • Sample D: Immigrants (1994/95), sample size of 1,078 individuals • Sample E: Refreshment (1998), sample size of 1,923 individuals • Sample F: Innovation (2000), sample size of 10,890 individuals • Sample G: Oversampling of High Income (2002), sample size of 2,671 individuals • Sample H: Refreshment (2006), sample size of 2,616 individuals • Sample J: Incentivation (2009), sample size of 2,509 individuals • Sample K: Increase (2011), sample size of 5,161 individuals Total Samples: Complete sample size for selected years: 1984: 12,245 individuals; 1990: 13,971 individuals; 1995: 13,768 individuals; 1998: 14,692 individuals; 2000: 24,582 individuals; 2002: 23,443 individuals; 2006: 22,665 individuals; 2007: 21,7232 individuals, 2008: 19,945 individuals; 2009: 18,602 individuals, 2010: 17,156 individuals, 2011: 21,336 individuals

First year of collection
1984 (West Germany), 1990 (East Germany)

Stratification if applicable
region (Federal States)

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
National coverage. Access policies for regional information: • NUTS1 level: standard-DVD • NUTS2 level: extra CD with password • NUTS3: SOEPremote or DIW Berlin • NUTS5/LAU2: only at DIW Berlin • Zip codes, delivery area: only at DIW Berlin For more information see www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php/237567 and http://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.55738.de/diw_datadoc_2007-017.pdf

Age range
persons aged 17 years and older

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
Life satisfaction using a one-item indicator has been assessed since 1984, while satisfaction with other life domains is assessed regularly, but is based on a different number of life domains during the years. Emotional wellbeing is assessed with four one-item indicators on frequency of feeling angry, worried, happy, and sad since 2007. Since 2002, every two years the SF-12 questionnaire, which assesses mental and physical health, is applied. In 2006 and 2011, questions concerning work stress were assessed.

Linkage

Standardisation
The SOEP data set contains various internationally harmonised standards (e.g. ISCED-97 (International Standard Classification of Education), ISCO-88 (International Standard Classification of Occupation)).The item on life satisfaction and the SF-12 (Ware et al., 1996) are internationally used standardised indicators of wellbeing.

Possibility of linkage among databases
The linkage among databases is not possible.

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
The Research Data Centre provides detailed information on known bugs and fixes on their website: http://www.diw.de/en/diw_02.c.222856.en/known_bugs/fixes.html.

Breaks
The names of variables might change over the waves, but the Research Data Centre of the SOEP provides detailed information on changes in the dataset on their website: http://www.diw.de/en/diw_02.c.238122.en/changes_in_the_dataset.html and a web based documentation system available at http://panel.gsoep.de/soepinfo. Moreover, the data set includes a variety of generated variables which do not change.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
The Research Data Centre of the SOEP provides detailed information on changes in the dataset on their website: http://www.diw.de/en/diw_02.c.238122.en/changes_in_the_dataset.html.

Governance

Contact information
Michaela Engelmann
Das Sozio-oekonomische Panel, DIW Berlin
Mohrenstraße 58
10117 Berlin Germany Phone: +49 30 89789-292
Email: soepmail(at)diw.de
Url: http://www.diw.de/en/diw_02.c.222517.en/data.html

Timeliness, transparency
Data are usually collected from February to September and released in the late summer of the following year.