About the GESIS Panel

The GESIS Panel is a unique social science data infrastructure that allows researchers to collect their own data which is based on a random sample. Data collection for scientific purposes is free of charge with the only exception of third-party funded studies. In addition, all GESIS Panel data is available as scientific use file for secondary analyses. As part of GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, GESIS Panel is funded by the German federation and its federal states.

Researchers can request cross-sectional or longitudinal data collection of their survey items by submitting their studies. In combination with the GESIS Panel longitudinal core studies, which have been running almost annually since 2014, these submissions have generated a thematically diverse data set that also includes topics that are not surveyed frequently (for example willingness to pay for health insurance or attitudes towards meat consumption). GESIS Panel data bases on random samples. Respondents can participate either web-based or by mail (mixed-mode panel).

In the following, we summarize the most important information on the GESIS Panel. You will find more detailed information on data collection and data access on the respective main pages. In our FAQ-data-collection, we answer the most important questions.

The central information is provided in the GESIS Panel reference article:

Bosnjak, M., Dannwolf, T., Enderle, T., Schaurer, I., Struminskaya, B., Tanner, A., & Weyandt K. W. (2018). Establishing an open probability-based mixed mode panel of the general population in Germany: The GESIS Panel. Social Science Computer Review, 36(1): 103-115. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439317697949.