Methodological Issues of Longitudinal Surveys

This book addresses abroad array of pressing challenges of longitudinal surveys and provides innovativesolutions to methodological problems based on the example of the NEPS. Itcovers longitudinal issues such as sampling, weighting, recruiting andfieldwork management, the design of longitudinal surveys and the implementationof constructs, conducting competence tests over the life course, effective methodsto improve and to maintain the highest level of data quality, data management toolsfor large-scale longitudinal surveys, the dissemination of research data to heterogeneousscientific communities, as well as establishing a long-term public relationsand communications unit integrating a study's stakeholder community over time. Content·       Sampling, Recruiting and Fieldwork Management·       Longitudinal Measurementof Educational Processes: Surveys and Constructs·       LongitudinalMeasurement of Skills: Competence Testing·       Assessing DataQuality·       Data Management,Coding, Dissemination and User Support  Target Groups ·       Sociologists, Psychologists, Demographers,Economists  ·       Experts in Longitudinal Research, ResearchMethods, Survey Research and Statistics  ·       Educational Researchers  The EditorsHans-Peter Blossfeld is on leave from his Chair inSociology at Bamberg University since 2012 and holds a Chair in Sociology atthe European University Institute in Florence.  Jutta von Maurice is the executive director of research of the LeibnizInstitute for Educational Trajectories at the University of Bamberg. Michael Bayer is operational manager of the operational unit 'Motivational Variablesand Personality Aspects Across the Life Course' at the Leibniz Institute forEducational Trajectories at the University of Bamberg. Jan Skopek is senior research scientist atthe Comparative Life Course & Inequality Research Center of the EuropeanUniversity Institute in Florence and is conducting cross-national comparisons inthe eduLIFE project, which is supported by an advanced grant from the ERC.