The microcensus is a sample study of households and as such contains details about the size and composition of households as well as on interpersonal relationships of household members. This facilitates the study both of household structures as well as family structures and living arrangements adopted within the population.
The definitions of household, family and living arrangements used in official statistics and the typologies that are established on that basis are of essential significance in this case. In the project, these issues are to be processed, described and discussed in view of their potentials and limitations for social scientific analysis. A comparison of the traditional family concept and the new concept of living arrangements that has been implemented in data since 1996 is at the forefront. The focus of this new concept is the compilation of data about unmarried cohabitations.
The scheme is developed in the context of the project “Research Network Data Service Centers: Improving Access of the Scientific Community to Microdata” funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and simplifies handling data from official statistical sources.
Lengerer, Andrea; Janßen, Andrea; Bohr, Jeanette (2007): Familiensoziologische Analysepotenziale des Mikrozensus. In: Zeitschrift für Familienforschung, 19, S. 186-209.
Lengerer, Andrea; Bohr, Jeanette; Janßen, Andrea (2005): Haushalte, Familien und Lebensformen im Mikrozensus - Konzepte und Typisierungen. ZUMA-Arbeitsbericht 2005/05. [Abstract] [.pdf] (231 kB)
