The data manual is intended to assist your work with the Scientific Use Files.

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.

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.

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:

• Wave 1: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 2: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 3: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 5: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 6: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 7: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 8: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 9: PDF-de, PDF-en

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.)

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.

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.

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.

The reports of weighting and sample stratification include information regarding the construct principles and sampling process. They also provide insight towards a correct use of the values found in the Scientific Use Files.

• Waves 1-5 PDF-en
• Wave 6 PDF-en
• Wave 7 PDF-en
• Wave 8 PDF-en
• Wave 9 PDF-en
• Wave 10 PDF-en
• Wave 11 PDF-en
• Wave 12 PDF-en
• Wave 13 PDF-en

NEPS also provides replication weights in order to calculate the estimation of the variance by using the balanced repeated replication method: PDF-en

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

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.

The NEPS Working Paper (No. 46) by Bayer, Goßmann and Bela describes the procedure for constructing the school type variable t723080_g1 in the Scientific Use Files of Starting Cohorts 3 and 4.

This report describes the procedure of coding verbatim answers about attending courses outside school from the perspective of arts education.

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.

• Microm: PDF-de, PDF-en
• RegioInfas (infas geodaten): PDF-en

The Merging Matrix provides an overview of how to link information from different datasets noting the respective relevant identificator variables.

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).

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.

• Wave 1:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey in in special needs schools: PDF-de
  PAPI supplemental sample: PDF-de


• Wave 2:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey in special needs schools: PDF-de


• Wave 3:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey in special needs schools: PDF-de


• Wave 4:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey in special needs schools: PDF-de


• Wave 5:
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de


• Wave 6:
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de
  CATI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 7:
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de
  CATI/CAWI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 8:
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de
  CATI/CAPI/CAWI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 9:
  PAPI main survey in regular schools: PDF-de
  CAPI/CATI/CAWI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 10:
  CATI/CAPI/CAWI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 11:
  CATI/CAPI/CAWI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 12:
  CATI/CAWI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 13:
  CATI/CAPI/CAWI main survey: PDF-de

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.

• Wave 1: PDF-de
• Wave 2: PDF-de
• Wave 3: PDF-de
• Wave 4: PDF-de
• Wave 6: PDF-de
• Wave 7: PDF-de
• Wave 8: PDF-de
• Wave 9: PDF-de
• Wave 10: PDF-de
• Wave 11: PDF-de
• Wave 12: PDF-de
• Wave 13: PDF-de