Long Night of the Sciences 2010

The SOEP is not only active at scientific conferences; we also work hard to bring our work to the broader public. We had the chance to do so the evening of June 5, 2010, at the tenth annual “Long Night of the Sciences” in Berlin. At this event, the capital city’s scientific institutions open their doors to the public for workshops, lectures, and activities. SOEP participated this year for the first time together with the other departments of DIW Berlin.

In the packed DIW Berlin lounge, visitors had diverse opportunities to learn more about the SOEP—for example, the fact that SOEP is Germany’s longest-running household survey.

With support from the staff of the SOEP team at TNS Infratest Sozialforschung in Munich, which carries out the SOEP fieldwork, we invited visitors to take part in a truly “hands-on” experience by filling out different questionnaires ...

or by taking the grip strength test.

This test, which is conducted in SOEP on a biennial basis, is also part of the Berlin Ageing Study (BASE II). Visitors to the “Long Night” were able to take the same grip strength test at two other institutions that participate in BASE II together with SOEP: the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB) and the German Centre of Gerontology, Berlin (Charité – University Medicine Berlin).

The visitors had the opportunity to look at and respond to the SOEP questionnaires either on paper or on the PC. Visitors could take brochures like the one given to SOEP respondents or an informational brochure produced by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in commemoration of SOEP’s 25th anniversary (in German) as well as the most recent SOEPpapers, all providing insight into the work that goes into making the SOEP study.

 Link to the brochure of the BMBF 

Jürgen Schupp also presented an overview of the SOEP study .

Präsentation 'Forschen am sozialen Leben' (PDF, 1.22 MB)

The evening’s events at DIW Berlin concluded with a very special presentation highlighting the successful cooperation between the SOEP and the FU Berlin: Jürgen Gerhards and Gert G. Wagner presented their predictions for the winners of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, based on a calculation of the teams’ market values.

See:  Jürgen Gerhards, Gert G. Wagner: Money : Chance = Spain Wins 2010 Football World Cup.
DIW Berlin Research Note 36/2010 (PDF, 165.87 KB) 

All photos on this site: Christine Kurka | DIW Berlin