Division Survey Methododology and Management

The team of the Survey Methodology and Management division is responsible for all aspects of data collection, ranging from sampling design for the individual subsamples and questionnaire development to research on selectiveness and measurement error in the data. Experts from the team work closely with the SOEP Survey Committee and with Kantar, the institute that conducts the fieldwork for the SOEP survey.

The team is also responsible for the SOEP Innovation Sample, which provides a framework for testing new and innovative concepts, questions, and survey instruments for potential inclusion in the main SOEP-Core study. A further focal point of the team’s work is on weighting and data documentation.

The team’s research focuses, on the one hand, on innovative topics in the field of survey statistics, such as new methods of sample selection, and the generation of appropriate weighting factors and imputation methods. On the other hand, researchers on the team study current social issues ranging from immigration and refugee integration to the mental health and life satisfaction of people in Germany.