Families in Germany (FID)

Study Description

Families in Germany (FiD) was the first systematic, large-scale evaluation of the entire spectrum of public benefits to married people and families in Germany. The study was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth (BMFSFJ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).

The FiD study was designed to provide an improved source of nationally representative data for the analysis of several subgroups of the population that are important for family policy but too small in size relative to the overall population to produce statistically reliable and generalizable results. These include single-parent families, low-income families, and families with more than two children. To address the need for more observations of these groups, the FiD study was conducted from 2010-2013 by SOEP at DIW Berlin in partnership with TNS Infratest Sozialforschung (now Kantar Public). It was modelled on the SOEP survey and provides data on more than 4,500 households.

In FiD, the following four supplementary samples were surveyed annually from 2010 to 2013, thus forming a panel study:

1. A sample of families in "critical income brackets"
2. A sample of single parents
3. A sample of families with more than two children
4. A "cohort sample" of the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 (first quarter) birth cohorts

The data were first released to the scientific community in April 2012. They can be obtained from the SOEP Research Data Center with a SOEP data distribution contract (forms). Although the FiD survey instruments were adapted to the specific research focus of the evaluation, they were based on those used in the SOEP. By using the FiD and SOEP data together, researchers can obtain a representative picture of the German population. To facilitate data analysis, the SOEP team has included the majority of the SOEP datasets in FiD along with joint weighting factors. More information in greater detail can be found in the article:

Schröder, Mathis, Rainer Siegers, and C. Katharina Spieß. 2013. "Familien in Deutschland" - FiD. Schmollers Jahrbuch 133 (4), 595-606 (DOI: 10.3790/schm.133.4.595).

The Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth has published a compilation of studies produced as part of the evaluation here.