Das Sozio-oekonomische Panel (SOEP): Multidisziplinäres Haushaltspanel und Kohortenstudie für Deutschland - Eine Einführung (für neue Datennutzer) mit einem Ausblick (für erfahrene Anwender)

Abstract

The longitudinal study German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) has been working for a quarter of a century as part of international research infractructure. It offers annual microdata for the measurement of biographical developments for basicresearch and policy advice in the social, economic, and behavioral sciences. The SOEP is, at the same time, a household panel as well as a cohort study. The present paper describes the background of the SOEP, its core themes and data structure, as well as the process of weighting and potential applications. The prospect focuses on future developments - the further improvement of governance and service - aiming to gather detailed life course data with interdisciplinary research concepts by the use of innovative survey and measurement methods. © The Author(s) 2008.