SOEP-Core v33.1 - LIFESPELL: Information on the pre- and post-survey history of SOEP-respondents

Kroh, Martin; Kröger, Hannes Research Report SOEP-Core v33.1 - LIFESPELL: Information on the pre- and post-survey history of SOEP-respondents SOEP Survey Papers, No. 591 Provided in Cooperation with: German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) Suggested Citation: Kroh, Martin; Kröger, Hannes (2019) : SOEP-Core v33.1 - LIFESPELL: Information on the pre- and post-survey history of SOEP-respondents, SOEP Survey Papers, No. 591, Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/193024 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ SOEP Survey Papers Series D – Variable Descriptions and Coding The German Socio-Economic Panel study SOEP-Core v33.1 – LIFESPELL: Information on the Pre- and Post-Survey History of SOEP-Respondents 591 SOEP — The German Socio-Economic Panel Study at DIW Berlin 2019 Martin Kroh, Hannes Kröger, and SOEP Group Martin Kroh, Hannes Kröger, and SOEP Group 277 LIFESPELL: Information on the Pre- and Post-Survey History of SOEP-Respondents by Martin Kroh and Hannes Kröger Prospective panel surveys typically face the problem that no information is available on units of analysis after respondents have left the survey. The SOEP team therefore regularly conducts drop-out studies to identify the whereabouts of attritors. These studies draw on official register data and allow us to determine whether a person is still living in Germany, is deceased, or has moved abroad since the last SOEP interview. The information is combined in a spell file LIFESPELL. This dataset reports all available information on the pre- and the post-survey history of all persons who have ever been a member of a SOEP household. The LIFESPELL file lends itself particularly to mortality research, migration research, and nonresponse research. It extends the period under investigation from the last SOEP interview to the last drop-out study and thus reduces the problem of selective observational probabilities of units of analysis. For users less familiar with spell files, we also provide a Stata code for converting a spell file into a long format file (person x year) at the end of this chapter. The file includes spells for every person ever living in a SOEP household. Each spell indicates one of the following states: • Living abroad • Living in Germany • Living in Germany + part of a SOEP HH1 • Deceased • No information about status The information comprised by the LIFESPELL file includes the following: • Year of birth 1 This code does not distinguish between active and inactive respondents, such as children and temporary nonrespondents. As long as interviewers can contact the household (even though an interview might not take place), we have information on the vital status of respondents. Therefore, all HH members are coded as being in the SOEP until the HH finally drops out of the SOEP and is no longer followed up by the interviewer. * indicates that the fact is only necessary for subgroups of the population █████ SOEP Survey Papers 591 1 SOEP v33.1 278 • Year of immigration* • Year of entry into SOEP • Year of exit out of SOEP • Year of emigration* • Year of death * indicates that the fact is only necessary for subgroups of the population The year of birth, and year of immigration are self-reported (retrospective) information from personal interviews (e.g., p-files). The year of entry and exit are taken from gross information reported by the interviewer (e.g., pbrutto-files). The year of emigration and the year of death can either come from related persons in the household (e.g., deceased-files), the interviewer (e.g., pbrutto-files), or, finally, from drop-out studies (i.e., population registers). The following register-based drop-out studies have been conducted in the past: a) 1992 drop-out study The study provides information about the dates of death or emigration, or one can infer that a person was still living in Germany until 1992. b) 2001 drop-out study The study provides information about the dates of death or emigration, or one can infer that a person was still living in Germany until 2001. Additionally, the study allows us to analyze regional mobility within Germany. It includes HH drop-outs from 1985-1998. c) 2006 drop-out study This study is not a register study, but a survey among nonrespondents. Attritors were contacted by mail and responded by mail. It allows us to include the year of death for those whose letters returned by post with the mark “deceased” or whose letters were answered by relatives or friends. Those who answered themselves can also be assumed to still have been living in Germany in 2006. No information is available for cases where there was no response. No information about emigration is given. The study includes drop-outs from 2001- 2004. █████ SOEP Survey Papers 591 2 SOEP v33.1 279 d) 2008 drop-out study The latest of the studies provides information about the year of death and those still living in Germany in 2008. Emigration is captured insufficiently. It includes drop-outs from 1985-2006. █████ SOEP Survey Papers 591 3 SOEP v33.1 280 Year of study 1992 2001 2006 2008 Population at risk Attritors between… 1984-1990 1984-1998 2001-2004 1985-2006 Overall 1,089 8,082 4,982 5,838 Identified 1,044 7,106 962 5,591 Information available Death + + (+) + Emigration + + (+) (+) Mobility within Germany + LIFESPELL contains the following variables. Comments are added to clarify certain assumptions made when coding the variables. SPELLNR Var Label: SPELLNR “Number of spell” Var format: SPELLNR (I2) Comment: This variable indicates the spell number. █████ SOEP Survey Papers 591 4 SOEP v33.1 281 SPELLTYP Var Label: SPELLTYP “Type of spell” Value Label: SPELLTYP (1)“Living in Germany” (2)“SOEP” (3)“Living abroad” (4)“Deceased” (5)“Gap” Comment: The variable gives information about the current residence and status of the person. “Living in Germany” means that the person lives in Germany, but is not yet or no longer part of a SOEP HH. Persons who are part of a SOEP HH are given the “SOEP” code on this variable. Note that the code refers to the person being part of the gross sample, which also includes children and covers periods of temporary drop-outs as well as the final year when respondents refuse to participate. If a spell is coded “Abroad,” this means a person has not yet immigrated to Germany or has already emigrated. “Deceased” indicates the spell with the year of death and finally “Gap” means that for the time marked by the spell no information about the person’s status can be determined. BEGIN Var label: BEGIN “Year in which spell begins” END Var label: BEGIN “Year in which spell ends” Comment: Two consecutive spells may overlap for one year in individual cases. This happens, for instance, when refusal to respond coincides with emigration in the same year. █████ SOEP Survey Papers 591 5 SOEP v33.1