SOEP-Core v32i (international edition, data 1984-2015)

International Scientific Use Version of the SOEP data (95 % version of the dataset https://doi.org/10.5684/soep.v32). This data set can be used worldwide.

Dataset Information

Title: Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), data from 1984-2015, International Scientific Use Version

DOI: 10.5684/soep.v32i
Collection period: 1984-2015
Publication date: December 14, 2016
Principal investigators: Jürgen Schupp, Jan Goebel, Martin Kroh, Carsten Schröder, Charlotte Bartels, Klaudia Erhardt, Alexandra Fedorets, Marco Giesselmann, Markus Grabka, Peter Krause, Simon Kühne, David Richter, Diana Schacht, Paul Schmelzer, Christian Schmitt, Daniel Schnitzlein, Rainer Siegers, Knut Wenzig

Data collector: TNS Infratest Sozialforschung GmbH.

Population: Persons living in private households in Germany.

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

Collection mode: 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 set information:

Number of units 108,063
Number of variables 61,902 in 413 data sets
Data format STATA, SPSS, SAS, CSV

MD5 fingerprints

Distribution format zip files
 all files
Stata bilingual 6aa30370b3c551e4de090517d6864a4e   | TXT, 18.11 KB
Stata German 302b6da0a2aa99a476ea3ab614c0479c   | TXT, 18.11 KB
Stata English 68d78d13bcf7da1fca87b0a26935f387   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SPSS German 673fabae8a45da5a4add30b8d65a001b   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SPSS English e3071ed3fe978d388a3d10b3943e302d   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SAS German 56343155b20a726128588a4e8814091b   | TXT, 20.23 KB
SAS English 8b39126e717ee4c9a6ba07966152c455   | TXT, 20.23 KB
CSV a550b1448e22e3f21dd8dafbb3fa0bbb   | TXT, 18.11 KB

Publications:

Gert G. Wagner, Joachim R. Frick, and Jürgen Schupp (2007): The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) - Scope, Evolution and Enhancements, Schmollers Jahrbuch (Journal of Applied Social Science Studies), 127 (1), 139-169 (download).

Joachim R. Frick, Stephen P. Jenkins, Dean R. Lillard, Oliver Lipps und Mark Wooden (2007): The Cross-National Equivalent File (CNEF) and its Member Country Household Panel Studies,  Schmollers Jahrbuch, Jg. 127 (4) , 627-654 (download).

Publications using this file should refer to the above DOI infoFind an explanation on the usage of DOI here.and cite following references

  • Goebel, Jan, Markus M. Grabka, Stefan Liebig, Martin Kroh, David Richter, Carsten Schröder, and Jürgen Schupp. 2019. The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik (Journal of Economics and Statistics) 239 (2), 345-360. (https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2018-0022)

If you do not exclude the cases of the migration samples in your analysis, then please also cite the following reference:

  • Herbert Brücker, Martin Kroh, Simone Bartsch, Jan Goebel, Simon Kühne, Elisabeth Liebau, Parvati Trübswetter, Ingrid Tucci & Jürgen Schupp. 2014. The new IAB-SOEP Migration Sample: an introduction into the methodology and the contents. SOEP Survey Paper 216 (PDF, 444.25 KB), Series C. Berlin, Nürnberg: DIW Berlin.

If you do not exclude the cases of the refugee samples in your analysis, please also cite: 

  • Herbert Brücker, Yuliya Kosyakova, Nina Rother, Sabine Zinn, Elisabeth Liebau, Wenke Gider, Silvia Schwanhäuser, & Manuel Siegert. 2025. Exploring Integration and Migration Dynamics: The Research Potentials of a Large-Scale Longitudinal Household Study of Refugees in Germany. European Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcaf032.

If you use data from the SOEP-LEE2 surveys, please also cite:

  • Wenzel Matiaske, Torben Dall Schmidt, Christoph Halbmeier, Martina Maas, Doris Holtmann, Carsten Schröder, Tamara Böhm, Stefan Liebig, and Alexander S. Kritikos. 2023. SOEP-LEE2 : Linking Surveys on Employees to Employers in Germany. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik Data Observer, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2023-0031.

If you would like to refer more specifically, please also cite:

  • Schröder, Carsten, Johannes König, Alexandra Fedorets, Jan Goebel, Markus M. Grabka, Holger Lüthen, Maria Metzing, Felicitas Schikora, and Stefan Liebig. 2020. The economic research potentials of the German Socio-Economic Panel study. German Economic Review 21 (3), 335-371. (https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2020-0033)
  • Giesselmann, Marco, Sandra Bohmann, Jan Goebel, Peter Krause, Elisabeth Liebau, David Richter, Diana Schacht, Carsten Schröder, Jürgen Schupp, and Stefan Liebig. 2019. The Individual in Context(s): Research Potentials of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) in Sociology. European Sociological Review 35 (5), 738-755. (https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcz029)
  • Jacobsen, Jannes, Magdalena Krieger, Felicitas Schikora, and Jürgen Schupp. 2021. Growing Potentials for Migration Research using the German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik 241 (4), 527-549. (https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2021-0001)
  • Fedorets, Alexandra, Stefan Kirchner, Jule Adriaans, and Oliver Giering. 2022. Data on Digital Transformation in the German Socio-Economic Panel. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik 242 (5-6), 691-705. (https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2021-0056)


Individual (PAPI) 2015: 2) Individual (PAPI) 2015 Field-de 4) Individual (PAPI) 2015 Field-en 6) Individual (PAPI) 2015 Var-de 8) Individual (PAPI) 2015 Var-en
Household 2015: 10) Household 2015 Field-de 12) Household 2015 Field-en 14) Household 2015 Var-de 16) Household 2015 Var-en
Biography (PAPI) 2015: 18) Biography (PAPI) 2015 Field-de 20) Biography (PAPI) 2015 Var-de 22) Biography (PAPI) 2015 Var-en
Youth (16-17 year-olds) 2015: 24) Youth (16-17 year-olds) 2015 Field-de 26) Youth (16-17 year-olds) 2015 Var-de 28) Youth (16-17 year-olds) 2015 Var-en
Pre-Teen (11-12 year-olds) 2015: 30) Pre-Teen (11-12 year-olds) 2015 Field-de
Mother and Child (Newborns) 2015: 32) Mother and Child (Newborns) 2015 Field-de
Mother and Child (2-3-year-olds) 2015: 34) Mother and Child (2-3-year-olds) 2015 Field-de
Mother and Child (5-6-year-olds) 2015: 36) Mother and Child (5-6-year-olds) 2015 Field-de
Parents and Child (7-8-year-olds) 2015: 38) Parents and Child (7-8-year-olds) 2015 Field-de
Mother and Child (9-10-year-olds) 2015: 40) Mother and Child (9-10-year-olds) 2015 Field-de
Deceased Individual 2015: 42) Deceased Individual 2015 Field-de

Please find all sample specific questionnaires of this year and all questionnaires of previous years on this site

1) SOEP-Core v32 – Documentation on Biography and Life History Data

2) Documentation of Sample Sizes and Panel Attrition in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) (1984 until 2015)

3) The 2015 IAB-SOEP Migration Study M2: Sampling Design, Nonresponse, and Weighting Adjustment

4) SOEP-Core v32 – $PBRUTTO

5) SOEP-Core v32 – Documentation of the Household-related Meta-dataset HPFAD

6) SOEP-Core v32 – PPFAD

7) SOEP-Core v32 – $HBRUTTO

8) SOEP-Core v32.1 – Documentation of Person-related Status and Generated Variables in $PGEN

9) SOEP-Core v32 – Documentation of Household-related Status and Generated Variables in $HGEN

10) SOEP 2015 – Codebook for the $PEQUIV File 1984-2015: CNEF Variables with Extended Income Information for the SOEP

11) SOEP-Core v32 – HEALTH

12) SOEP-Core v32 – KIDLONG: Pooled Dataset on Children

13) SOEP-Core v32 – Person-related Variables on Children in $KIND

1) Handgreifkraftmessung im Sozio-oekonomischen Panel (SOEP) 2006 und 2008

2) Documentation on ISCED Generation Using the CAMCES Tool in the IAB-SOEP Migration Samples M1/M2

3) The new IAB-SOEP Migration Sample: an introduction into the methodology and the contents

4) The Request for Record Linkage in the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample

5) Flowcharts for the Integrated Individual-Biography Questionnaire of the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample 2013

6) The Measurement of Labor Market Entries with SOEP Data: Introduction to the Variable EINSTIEG_ARTK

7) Job submission instructions for the SOEPremote System at DIW Berlin – Update 2014

8) SOEP 2015 – Informationen zu den SOEP-Geocodes in SOEP v32

9) Editing and Multiple Imputation of Item Non-response in the Wealth Module of the German Socio-Economic Panel

10) Die Vercodung der offenen Angaben zu den Ausbildungsberufen im Sozio-Oekonomischen Panel

11) Das Studiendesign der IAB-BAMF-SOEP Befragung von Geflüchteten

12) Scales Manual IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees in Germany – revised version

13) SOEP 2010 – Preparation of data from the new SOEP consumption module: Editing, imputation, and smoothing

14) SOEP Scales Manual (updated for SOEP-Core v32.1)

15) Kognitionspotenziale Jugendlicher - Ergänzung zum Jugendfragebogen der Längsschnittstudie Sozio-oekonomisches Panel (SOEP)

16) Die Vercodung der offenen Angaben zur beruflichen Tätigkeit nach der International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO08) - Direktvercodung - Vorgehensweise und Entscheidungsregeln bei nicht eindeutigen Angaben

17) Die Vercodung der offenen Angaben zur beruflichen Tätigkeit nach der Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 (KldB 2010): Vorgehensweise und Entscheidungsregeln bei nicht eindeutigen Angaben

18) Multi-Itemskalen im SOEP Jugendfragebogen

19) Dokumentation zum Entwicklungsprozess des Moduls „Einstellungen zu sozialer Ungleichheit“ im SOEP (v38)

20) SOEP-CoV: Project and Data Documentation

21) Missing Income Data in the German SOEP: Incidence, Imputation and its Impact on the Income Distribution

22) Zur Erhebung des adaptiven Verhaltens von zwei- und dreijährigen Kindern im Sozio-oekonomischen Panel (SOEP)

23) SOEP 2013 – Documentation of Generated Person-Level Long-Term Care Variables in PFLEGE

24) SOEP-Core v34 – PFLEGE: Documentation of Generated Person-level Long-term Care Variables

25) SOEP 2006 – TIMEPREF: Dataset on the Economic Behavior Experiment on Time Preferences in the 2006 SOEP Survey

26) SOEP-Core v34: Codebook for the EU-SILC-Like Panel for Germany Based on the SOEP

27) Assessing the distributional impact of "imputed rent" and "non-cash employee income" in microdata : Case studies based on EU-SILC (2004) and SOEP (2002)

28) SOEP-Core v36: Codebook for the EU-SILC-like panel for Germany based on the SOEP

All documentation for filtering can be found on this page

1) SOEP-Core v32 – Methodenbericht zum Befragungsjahr 2015 (Welle 32) des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels

2) Methodenbericht zum Befragungsjahr 2015 des IAB-SOEP-Migrationssamples (M1 /M2)

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