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Allgemeine Bevölkerungs­umfrage
der Sozial­wissenschaften

ALLBUS 2016 (Study-No. ZA5250, German version; Study-No. 5252, English version)

Data Set:
German / English

Questionnaire (PDF):
German / English

Variable Report:
(PDF - German only)

Data Collection Period:

  • April 2016 to September 2016

Data Collection:

  • TNS Infratest, Munich

Data Set:

  • 3490 respondents
  • 793 variables

Scientific Council:

  • Stefan Bauernschuster, University of Passau;
  • Andreas Diekmann, ETH Zurich;
  • Andreas Hadjar, University of Luxemburg;
  • Karin Kurz, University of Göttingen;
  • Ulrich Rosar, University of Düsseldorf;
  • Ulrich Wagner, University of Marburg;
  • Bettina Westle, University of Marburg

Contents

Social monitoring of trends in attitudes, behavior, and societal change in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The main topics in 2016 are:

Family as a prerequisite for happiness; marriage in case of steady partnership; desire to have children; attitudes towards working fathers and mothers [split]; division of labor regarding house and family work.

Attitude towards the influx of various groups of immigrants; scale of attitudes towards foreigners [split]; contacts with foreigners (or alternatively: contacts with Germans) within the family, at work, in the neighborhood, or among friends; positive and negative experiences with foreigners (or alternatively with Germans); perceived consequences of presence of foreigners in Germany; perception and evaluation of discriminatory behavior towards foreigners; assumed social evaluation of statements on foreigners; ranking in terms of importance of different citizenship requirements; attitudes towards the possibility of becoming German (assimilation); opinion on dual citizenship and on equal rights for foreigners; support for the teaching of Islam in public schools; attitude towards ethnically mixed neighborhoods; estimation of proportion of foreigners in East and West Germany; presence of foreigners as advantage for Germany; living in neighborhoods with high percentage of foreigners; estimated percentage of foreigners in own neighborhood; attitudes towards cultural diversity; perceived differences in lifestyle between Germans and different ethnic groups; indicators for social distance to ethnic minorities and foreigners; attitudes towards equal legal rights for ethnic and religious minorities; feelings towards ethnic and religious minorities; attitudes towards Jews (anti-Semitism); attitudes towards Islam (Islamophobia); contacts with refugees; presence of refugees in own neighborhood; perceived risks and chances with respect to refugees.

Contacts with family members or friends living in another country, frequency of contacts with theses persons, countries in which these persons live; consumption of foreign-language media; frequency of consumption of foreign-language media; frequency and duration of visits to other countries.

First, second, and third citizenship of respondent and of spouse or partner; number of citizenships of respondent; original citizenship of respondent and of spouse or partner; country of origin of respondent and of respondent's parents and grandparents; country respondent lived in when young; length of residence in Germany.

Pride in German institutions and German achievements; pride in being a German.

Political interest, postmaterialism (importance of law and order, fighting rising prices, free expression of opinions, and influence on governmental decisions), self-placement on left-right continuum, voting intention (Sonntagsfrage), participation in last federal elections, recall of vote in last federal elections, membership in a political party.

Social pessimism and orientation towards the future (anomia), interpersonal trust, reciprocity, authoritarianism, overall life satisfaction.

Self-assessment of social class, fair share in standard of living, assessment of the present and future economic situation in Germany, assessment of the present and future personal economic situation, sense of security in the immediate vicinity (fear of crime); identification with own community, the federal state, the Federal Republic of Germany, the former GDR and Europe; telephone, possession of mobile phone, Internet use.

Details about the respondent: month and year of birth, age, gender, citizenship (nationality), number of citizenships, place of residence (federal state, size of municipality, BIK-type of region), geographical origin, religious affiliation, frequency of church attendance, school education, vocational training, employment status, details about current or former occupation, fear of unemployment, affiliation to public service, fixed-term or permanent employment contract, supervisory functions, date of termination of full-time employment, working hours per week (primary and secondary job), status of non-employment, length of unemployment, respondent's income, type of dwelling, self-description of place of residence, overall health, marital status, current or former membership in a trade union. Details about respondent's current spouse: month and year of birth, age, citizenship (nationality), number of citizenships, country of origin, school education, vocational training, employment status, details about current occupation, status of non-employment.
Details about respondent's steady partner: month and year of birth, age, citizenship (nationality), number of citizenships, country of origin, common household with respondent, school education, vocational training, employment status, details about current occupation, status of non-employment. Details about respondent's parents: school education of mother and father, vocational training of mother and father, details about both parents' occupation.
Description of household: size of household, household income, number of persons older than 17 in household (reduced size of household).
Details about household members: family relation to respondent, gender, month and year of birth, age, marital status.
Details about children not living in the household: number of children not living in the household, gender, year of birth, age.

Perceived attractiveness of respondent; perceived social class of household; date of interview; beginning and end of interview; length of interview; reachability of respondent; willingness to participate; presence of other persons during interview; presence of spouse, partner or children during interview; presence of other relatives during interview; interference of other persons in the course of the interview; willingness to cooperate and reliability of information from respondent; respondent followed interview on screen; details about respondent's residential building and its neighborhood; number of attempts to contact the respondent; participation in ISSP surveys; willingness to participate in GESIS panel; likelihood of participation in GESIS panel (assessed by interviewer); ID of sample point.
Details about the interviewer: gender; age; school education; identification number; length of experi-ence as an interviewer.

Attitude towards work (job motivation and money); relevance of job characteristics (secure job, high income, good career opportunities, interesting work, work autonomy, chance to help other people, social usefulness); impact of work on family life; conflict and social exclusion in work environment; assessment of job security; better job security and working conditions because of trade unions; preference for full- or part-time work; respondent on parental leave; preference for less or more work (and pay); characteristics of own job (secure job, high income, good career opportunities, interesting work, work autonomy, chance to help other people, social usefulness, allows development of personal skills); stressful, unhealthy or dangerous working conditions; autonomy regarding organization of own work; impact of work on family life and vice versa; usefulness of work experience in current job and in looking for new job; participation in further training over past 12 months; quality of relationship between superiors and employees and between colleagues; job satisfaction; willingness to work harder; pride in employer; willingness to turn down better paid job; desire to change jobs; pride in current job; chance of finding equivalent job; likelihood of looking for a new job in the near future; fear of unemployment; what respondent is prepared to do to avoid unemployment; secondary job in the past twelve months; respondent has previously been in work for at least one year; date of termination of full- or part-time employment; satisfaction with last job; main reason respondent stopped working; desire for work; likelihood of success in job search; fear of not finding an occupation; willingness to compromise in job search; means used in looking for work in the past twelve months; unemployed respondent further training during past twelve months; currently looking for work; main source of personal income while not working; fear of losing main source of personal income; employment history of the past five years; overall health; attitudes towards old people in the workplace.

Attitudes towards the observance of laws; attitudes towards different forms of protest against the government; opinions on freedom of speech for extremists; attitude towards a miscarriage of justice; attitudes towards different economic policy positions; attitudes towards an increase of expenditures of the government for environmental protection, health service, police, the educational system, defense, pensions, unemployment benefit, culture; assessment of state responsibility for socio-political tasks (social support for the elderly, students, housing provision, job creation; economic growth through assistance to industry, price stability, etc.); assessment of the influence of different groups on politics and the government; attitude towards video and internet surveillance, attitude towards surveillance by domestic intelligence services; attitude towards the curtailing of freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism; political interest; overall attitude towards politics and the political system (subjective assessment of political influence (political efficacy), level of political awareness, politicians and election promises); trust in government officials; assessment of fairness of tax levels for different income groups; assessment of the fairness of tax authorities; attitudes towards ‘big business’; assessment of the extent of corruption (politicians, civil servants); personal experience with corruption.

years of education in school and university; participation in workforce; number of employees; supervisory functions; number of employees supervised; type of employer (profit vs. non-profit, public vs. private); employment status; (employed, unemployed, in training, unfit for work, retired, house husband or wife); details about spouse or partner (employment status, working hours per week, type of work, supervisory functions, employment status); self-assessment of social class (top-bottom-scale); electoral participation; recall of vote in last federal election; ethnic self-identification.

Inglehart-Index; International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) 1988 and 2008; Standard International Occupational Prestige Scale (SIOPS, according to Ganzeboom), International Socio-economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI, according to Ganzeboom); International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 1997 and 2011; per capita income; equivalised income (OECD-modified scale); classification of private households (according to Porst and Funk); family typology; transformation weight for analyses on household level; east-west design weight; percentage of non-German residents at county level and in the immediate living environment; unemployment at county level.

Total population and Sample:

  • Geographic Coverage: Federal Republic of  Germany
  • Person sample:
    • Universe Sampled: All persons (German and non-German) who resided in private households and were born before 1 January 1998.
    • Selection Method: Two stage disproportionate random sample in western Germany (incl. West Berlin) and eastern Germany (incl. East Berlin). In the first sample stage municipalities (Gemeinden) in western Germany and municipalities in eastern Germany were selected with a probability proportional to their number of adult residents; in the second sample stage individual persons were selected at random from the municipal registers of residents.
      Targeted individuals who did not have adequate knowledge of German to conduct the interview were treated as systematic unit non-responses.

Method of Data Collection:

  • Personal, oral interview with standardized questionnaire (CAPI – Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing)
  • Two additional self-completion questionnaires (CASI – Computer Assisted Self-Interviewing) for ISSP (split questionnaire design)

Primary Sampling Units:

West:111 Sample Points (in 104 municipalities) 
East:51 Sample Points (in 45 municipalities)  
Total:162 Sample points (in 149 municipalities)

Response Rate:

West:

34,2%
East:36,6%
Total:34,6%

Further Notes:

  • Respondents from the area of the new federal states are oversampled.
  • A second version of this data set (589 variables) with a shortened demography module is additionally available as ALLBUScompact 2016 (ZA5251, German Version; ZA5253, English version).
  • The data pertaining to the open-ended question F027 in which respondents were asked which groups they associate with the phrase “foreigners living in Germany” (“in Deutschland lebende Ausländer”) were published in a supplementary data set (ZA5254).
  • A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for use in data citations is supplied as part of the data set.