Data Collection

Samples for all study components of the GLHS were carefully evaluated against official statistics (census and micro-census) to ensure that they are representative of their respective populations. The survey instruments contained detailed questions about family of origin, residential history, education, work life, work interruptions, and family formation, including the formation and dissolution of marital and (for younger cohorts) non-marital unions, as well as children and grandchildren (where applicable). Particular emphasis was placed on gaining a thorough, month-by-month account of respondents’ educational, occupational, family, and residential histories.*

Depending on the historical situation of each cohort and the age at which it was studied, specific additional questions were added. Thus, interviews with the 1919-21 cohorts included questions about membership of National Socialist organizations, experiences during the war, and the transition to retirement. Other study components contained modules on social support networks and informal exchange relations, personality traits, cohort-specific problems in the transition from work to school, and much more.

* For more information, see Brückner, Erika, and Karl Ulrich Mayer (1998): Collecting Life History Data: Experiences from the German Life History Study, pp. 152-181 in Janet Z. Giele and Glen H. Elder Jr. (eds.): Methods of Life Course Research. Sage Publications.