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.

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 4: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 5: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 6: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 9: PDF-de, PDF-en
• Wave 11: 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 NEPS Survey Paper No. 66 provides information on sample stratification and the principles of constructing weights for the waves 1 to 3 of the Scientific Use File: PDF-en

• Technical Report regarding the use of weights for wave 4: PDF-en
• Technical Report regarding the use of weights for wave 5: PDF-en
• Technical Report regarding the use of weights for wave 6: PDF-en
• Technical Report regarding the use of weights for wave 7: PDF-en
• Technical Report regarding the use of weights for wave 8: PDF-en
• Technical Report regarding the use of weights for wave 9: PDF-en
• Technical Report regarding the use of weights for wave 10: PDF-en
• Technical Report regarding the use of weights for wave 11: PDF-en

The NEPS Survey Paper No. 44 informs about the derivation of the (joint) weights for wave 6: 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.

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

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: PDF-de


• Wave 2:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 3:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 4:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 5:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey: PDF-de


• Wave 6:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI individual follow-up survey: PDF-de


• Wave 7:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  PAPI individual follow-up survey: PDF-de


• Wave 8:
  PAPI individual follow-up survey: PDF-de


• Wave 9:
  CATI main survey: PDF-de
  CAPI/PAPI individual follow-up survey: PDF-de


• Wave 10:
  PAPI/CAWI individual follow-up survey: PDF-de


• Wave 11:
  CAPI/PAPI/CAWI individual follow-up 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 5: PDF-de
• Wave 6: PDF-de, PDF-de
• Wave 7: PDF-de
• Wave 9: PDF-de, PDF-de
• Wave 11: PDF-de, PDF-de