Objectives
"The Between-Wars Generation and the Transition to Retirement" (LV-West II) project tied up with the "Life Course and Welfare Development" (LV-West I) project and extended the German Life History Study to include the 1919-1921 birth cohorts.

This project focused on the impact of wartime events on respondents' life histories. The interviews covered the extraordinary historical conditions facing this cohort, and explored how these condition impacted on the respondents' residential histories and educational and occupational trajectories. Moreover, because the members of this birth cohort were approaching or had reached the standard retirement age at the time of the interview, it was possible to gather data on completed career trajectories and the provisions respondents had made for their old age.

Questionnaire Design
To ensure comparability of the LV-West II A / LV-West II T data with the LV-West I data, the intention was to collect life history data from respondents born in 1919-21 using the same interview method and similar instruments. Of course, it was also important to take account of the particular historical situation of this birth cohort (Third Reich, wartime events), and the implications this had for respondents' residential histories (wartime service and resettlement), educational and occupational histories (limited career opportunities), and membership of organizations (e.g., National Socialist organizations). Additional questions were developed to explore aspects of the transition to retirement.

Codebook in English

Sample Design
The first part of the study, LV-West II A, was based on the same sample than LV I-West, which yielded addresses of 1,189 persons belonging to the 1919-1921 birth cohorts. Because of the relatively long interval since the preliminary contact with the households (1981), the addresses were updated by the market research company Getas in 1984 (see Methodenberichte zur persönlichen Befragung (LV II A), pdf format, 727 KB).

For the computer-assisted telephone interviews (LV-West II T), all households including a member born in the years 1919-1921 were selected from the InfraScope sample. To this end, all households in the sample were contacted, asked whether anybody belonging to the 1919-1921 birth cohorts lived there, and the target persons were then invited to participate in the life history study. This procedure took several months. All recruited households were used for the target cohort (see Methodenberichte zur telefonischen Befragung (LV II T), pdf format, 484 KB ).

Data Collection
Despite thorough interviewer training and great efforts in the field, only 407 interviews were realized in the first main period in the field (LV-West II A). Table 1 documents sample coverage and reasons for non-participation. In view of the high proportion of non-participants, the quality of the realized sample was assessed with respect to various characteristics. The proportion of men and women in the sample corresponded with the gender ratio of the 1987 census, and there was no marked bias in the geographical distribution of the respondents. Likewise, there were no significant differences between participants and non-participants in terms of geographical characteristics.

Because the first main study did not achieve the required number of interviews, a second survey was necessary (LV-West II T). The questionnaire was converted into a computer-assisted interview program that incorporated automatic screening procedures, allowed consistency checks to be run during the interview, and enabled a raw dataset to be produced instantaneously by saving participants' responses. From November 1987 to September 1988, a total of 1,005 complete interviews were conducted by telephone. The telephone interviews were recorded on audio tape, making it possible to observe interviewer/respondent interactions and to monitor data collection. Table 1 documents sample coverage and reasons for non-participation.

Table 1: Sample Coverage and Reasons for Non-Participation