This paper provides an overview of official data in Germany and Europe which are of interest for the empirical social sciences. In particular the German Microscenus is presented. In addition to the method of data collection and the content of the data, the benefits and drawbacks of the Microcensus compared to survey data are described. Information on the access to official microdata is provided as well.
Hartmann, Peter H.; Lengerer, Andrea (2014): Verwaltungsdaten und Daten der amtlichen Statistik. In: Nina Baur, Jörg Blasius (Hg.): Handbuch Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. S. 907-914.
The GESIS Microcensus-Trendfile is introduced in this paper. It is a harmonized and cumulated file of all currently available Scientific Use Files of the German Microcensus from 1962 to 2006. The strategies and problems of harmonizing the German Microcensus are discussed. We give an overview of the content of the new dataset, followed by an insight into the analytical capability of the Trendfile by example.
Lengerer, Andrea; Schroedter, Julia H.; Boehle, Mara; Wolf, Christof (2012): The GESIS Microcensus-Trendfile. A New Database for the Study of Social Change. In: Schmollers Jahrbuch – Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, 132, S. 419-432.
As a representative sample of households the German Microcensus contains information about the size, the composition of households and the relations among the members of the households. Since 1996, in addition to the identification of households and families, a new kind of social unit is identified in the Microcensus: living arrangements. The central aim of this new concept is to take cohabitation as a new form of partnership into account. As a result, the analytical potential of the Microcensus is highly expanded. In this paper the concepts and definitions of the official statistics and their implementation in the Microcensus will be explained. Their analytical potential for empirical research concerning families and living arrangements are presented, and both the possibilities and the limits of the data are shown. The consequences of the new survey design of the Microcensus since 2005 for the analysis of family-related questions are discussed as well.
Lengerer, Andrea; Janßen, Andrea; Bohr, Jeanette (2007): Familiensoziologische Analysepotenziale des Mikrozensus. In: Zeitschrift für Familienforschung, 19, S. 186-209.
