Version 12.1.0
doi:10.5157/NEPS:SC6:12.1.0
The information on this site refers to version 12.1.0. Here you find information on the former versions 12.0.1, 12.0.0, 11.1.0, 11.0.0, 10.0.1, 10.0.0, 9.0.1, 9.0.0, 8.0.0, 7.0.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.0, 5.0.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.0, and 1.0.0.
Date of Release
Summary
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Within this partial study conducted by the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), data on courses of education and occupation as well as on competence acquisition across adult life courses are collected. In order to be able to study adult education, the entire spectrum of educational activities and learning processes (formal, non-formal, and informal), decisions resulting in their participation, and the previous life course of the interviewees (especially the course of education and occupation, regional mobility, relationships, and children) are recorded in detail. Similar to the lack of knowledge concerning adult education in Germany, there is very little information on competences and their changes after school. This is why this partial study collects data on competences in reading, mathematics, sciences, and ICT as well as on non-cognitive skills (such as personality, motivation and social skills).
The data should enable researchers to
- trace the acquisition of education across the adultlife course, and to follow the courses of further education and occupation of younger cohorts after their job entry;
- study why individuals decide to participate or not to participate in formal or non-formal learning activities after initial vocational training;
- describe the competences of different groups of adults in Germany and to explain competence development in adult life as well as the importance of the employment situation in this context;
- analyze the impact of specific educational contexts in adult life, especially of the employment situation and family constellation, on educational choices and participation in further training;
- estimate the returns to formal qualifications, competences and professional experience in terms of wages, occupational careers and in other areas of life, e.g., well-being or volunteer work;
- generate empirical results on competences of migrants, their resources, their participation in and returns to further training;
- identify opportunities and obstacles for learning processes and education in later adult life.
The field time of the adult survey started already in 2007, i.e. prior to the foundation of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). The adult survey 2007/08 was conducted by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) under the name of “Working and Learning in a Changing World” (ALWA). Afterwards, the data collection of the adult survey continued under the umbrella of the NEPS from November 2009 to August 2010.
Principal Investigator
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Cordula Artelt, Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, Bamberg (Germany)
Citation
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If you publish with NEPS data, it is mandatory to quote the following reference:
Blossfeld, H.-P., Roßbach, H.-G., & von Maurice, J. (Eds.). (2011). Education as a lifelong process: The German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) [Special Issue]. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 14. (Full text)
In addition, publications using data from this release must include the following acknowledgement:
This paper uses data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS): Starting Cohort 6 – Adults, doi:10.5157/NEPS:SC6:12.1.0. From 2008 to 2013, NEPS data were collected as part of the Framework Programme for the Promotion of Empirical Educational Research funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). As of 2014, the NEPS survey has been carried out by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) at the University of Bamberg in cooperation with a nationwide network.
Für alle Publikationen mit NEPS-Daten ist es verpflichtend, folgende Referenz zu zitieren:
Blossfeld, H.-P., H.-G. Roßbach und J. von Maurice (Hrsg.) (2011). Education as a Lifelong Process – The German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft: Sonderheft 14. (Volltext)
Zusätzlich müssen alle Publikationen den folgenden Hinweis auf den jeweiligen Scientific-Use-File, aus dem die verwendeten NEPS-Daten stammen, enthalten:
Diese Arbeit nutzt Daten des Nationalen Bildungspanels (NEPS) Startkohorte 6 (Erwachsene), doi:10.5157/NEPS:SC6:12.1.0. Die Daten des NEPS wurden von 2008 bis 2013 als Teil des Rahmenprogramms zur Förderung der empirischen Bildungsforschung erhoben, welches vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) finanziert wurde. Seit 2014 wird NEPS vom Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe e.V. (LIfBi) an der Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg in Kooperation mit einem deutschlandweiten Netzwerk weitergeführt.
Availability
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Data and documents are released for academic research. This release is uniquely identified by one DOI. All data sets of this release are available in different languages (English, German), formats (Stata, SPSS), and degrees of anynomization (download, remote access, and on-site).
Documentation
Below you will find detailed additional information regarding the surveys, instruments and data from the Starting Cohort Adults. This documentation refers to the version 12.1.0. In case of questions, simply contact the Research Data Center.
| Data Manual (more) |
PDF-de |
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The data manual is intended to assist your work with the Scientific Use Files. The provided document refers to the data version 12.1.0. An updated version will be made available to you in the near future.
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| Release Notes (more) |
TXT-en |
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The release notes entail any main changes in comparison to prior versions. Herein, known bugs and possible solutions regarding the most current data version are noted.
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| Survey Instruments (more) |
ZIP |
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The survey instruments are made available to you in the form of SUF and field versions. The field versions consist of the originally deployed PAPI questionnaires as well as the programming templates for CATI and CAPI interviews. The SUF versions entail additional information, such as the variable names and labels found in the Scientific Use Files as well as the corresponding scheme options. We recommend the SUF version, when working with the data. The ZIP archive contains all of the documents listed below.
In our Downloadcenter you can also view other survey instruments that don't yet have a published Scientific Use File. In order to access the instruments, logging in to the webstie is required. If you are not registered as a NEPS data user and therefore don't have the necessary login credentials, simply contact the Research Data Center.
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| Information on Competence Tests (more) |
ZIP |
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General overviews and information:
- Competence measures in Starting Cohorts 1 to 6 and variable naming conventions (PDF-en)
- Scaling model and notes on using data from competence tests (PDF-en)
- Linking the data of competence tests across different measurement occasions (PDF-en)
Wave-specific descriptions:
Usually for each domain there is a brief description of the construct with sample items, a description of the data, and of the psychometric properties of the test. In the table you will find each of the documents that can be downloaded. (The ZIP archive contains all of the documents listed below. Therein documents in regard to the competence domains as well as overview documents can be found.)
| Domains |
Constructs, test processes and sample items |
Data, psychometric properties and scaling |
| Domain-overlapping competences |
| General cognitive basic skills |
PDF-en |
| Domain-specific competences |
| Lingustic competence German: Reading (RE) |
PDF-en* |
W3: PDF-en,
W5: PDF-en,
W9: PDF-en |
| Lingustic competence German: Reading speed (RS) |
PDF-en |
| Mathematical competences (MA) |
PDF-en |
W3: PDF-en,
W9: PDF-en |
| Scientific competences (SC) |
PDF-en |
PDF-en |
| Metacompentences |
| Procedural metacognition (MP) |
PDF-en |
| Technological and information literacy (IC) |
PDF-en |
PDF-en |
*Until the materials for Starting Cohort 6 (Adults) are published, you can get the documents for Starting Cohorts 3 and 4 here. The description is comprehensive, but the examples are specific to the Starting Cohort.
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| Semantic Data Structure File (more) |
ZIP |
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The semantic data structure file does not contain data. It does, however, contain the metadata found in the Scientific Use Files (e.g., variable names,variable labels and scheme options). It is useful for exploring the data structure without needing any actual data. The ZIP-File contains German and English versions for Stata and SPSS.
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| Codebook (more) |
PDF-de PDF-en |
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Sorted by data sets, the codebook entails frequency counts of all the variables including the corresponding labels. The on-site version of the SUF serves as the basis for the codebook.
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| Glossary (more) |
PDF-en |
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The NEPS Glossary provides information about special terminology related to the German educational and occupational system as well as the NEPS-specific terms and abbreviations that are frequently used throughout the NEPS study.
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| Anonymization Procedures (more) |
PDF-en |
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This document describes the used anonymization procedures of the respective data. Here you are also given an overview regarding the opportunity to access sensitive data (Download, Remote, On-Site).
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| Field Reports (more) |
ZIP |
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The field reports document the overall data-collection process executed by the survey institute, including the preparation and execution of the survey, the interviewer selection and deployment, tracking and providing incentives to the target persons, the intial contact and the realization of the interviews and tests, etc. The field reports are suppied by the respective survey institutes and are only available in German.
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| Interviewer Manuals (more) |
ZIP |
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The interview manuals is the basis for the interviewers' training before the computed-supported interviews were conducted. In particular, it describes the interview process as well as the content of each of the questionnaire modules.
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| Samples, Weights, Nonresponse (more) |
ZIP |
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The documents for weighting and sample stratification include information regarding the sampling process and the construct principles of weighting variables. It also provides insight towards a correct use of the weights found in the Scientific Use Files.
The NEPS Survey Paper No. 89 documents the relevant sample parameters for the Corona survey from May/June 2020, describes details on selectivity and presents the response propensity models for participation in this additional survey and the weighting procedure including post-stratification: PDF-en
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| Generated Variables on Education (more) |
PDF-en |
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The report gives a comprehensive overview of the underlying derivation processes for the derived educational variables. These are ISCED-97, CASMIN and Years of Education.
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| Regional data (more) |
ZIP |
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Regional structural information can be merged to our data on-site. Regional data is available from Microm and infas. These documentations describe all regional levels, structural characteristics, and how to use the data.
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| Merging Matrix (more) |
PDF-en |
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The Merging Matrix provides an overview of how to link information from different datasets noting the respective relevant identificator variables. The provided document refers to the data version 3.0.1. An updated version will be made available to you in the near future.
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| Check Module for Reported Life Courses (more) |
PDF-de |
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This document describes the most important steps and functions of the infas check module for retrospectively reported life courses (“x module”) in computer-based interviews. The document suppied by the infas Institute for Applied Social Sciences GmbH is only available in German.
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