1995 Consumer Panel Data

Sample Coverage and Missing Data

Of the 12,177 households in the unweighted net sample of January 1995, 9,064 households (the so-called "constant group") still remained in the sample in December 1995. GESIS-ZUMA´s files include information about consumer behaviour as well as structural and attitudinal data for these 9,064 constant group cases, namely for all households that reported well and without interruption for at least one full year. These data are from the unweighted raw sample. GESIS-ZUMA´s files also contain two partial samples: Panel 1 includes 3,598 households, and Panel 6 includes 4,638 households.

The raw sample is disproportionate with respect to household size quotas, since in the case of single person households only about 75 percent of the sample target was achieved. There are also specific missing cases in the age structure: younger households had higher drop-out rates. It is thus appropriate to provide structural weighting if conclusions about the entire population of private German households are to be drawn from this data.