Design of the study

Abstract

"By establishing the panel study 'Labour Market and Social Security' (PASS), the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) is setting up a new database that creates a new empirical basis for research into the labour market, the welfare state and poverty in Germany. The survey pays particular attention to the dynamics of households in receipt of benefits in accordance with the Social Code Book II (SGB II). An adequate survey design has to be tailored to the research demands and the population to be surveyed. The most important decisions that were taken in PASS are those for a prospective longitudinal design and for conducting it as a household survey. The main research questions require longitudinal data: They ask for determinants of inflows into and outflows from benefit receipt or for changes in attitudes, action taken or the material situation before and after the beginning of benefit receipt. The only adequate design to answer such questions is the panel design where the same units of observation are asked to answer the same questions in repeated waves. In PASS the period of time between two consecutive waves was - based on expectations on how quickly important target variables change - devised to be one year. In chapter 3, the design, sampling procedure and several special characteristics of the survey design will be described. In section 3.3 the reader will find information on the sampling design, while section 3.3 contains other design aspects like mode, interview languages, interviewer trainings etc." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Trappmann, M., Müller, G. & Bethmann, A. (2011): Design of the study. In: A. Bethmann & D. Gebhardt (Hrsg.) (2011): User Guide "Panel Study Labour Market and Social Security" (PASS) : Wave 3 (FDZ-Datenreport, 04/2011 (en)), p. 12-19.