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Monetary respondent incentives are a means to counteract the trend toward declining response rates. This article summarizes the results of a series of experiments conducted in the past decade in the German General Social Survey. We found that prepaid monetary incentives led to a higher increase in response than promised incentives. There was no evidence that either promised or prepaid incentives had a systematic effect on sample composition. The incentives helped to reduce fieldwork efforts. Thus, the costs of incentives can—at least partially—be offset by a reduction in the number of contact attempts required to achieve a certain number of completed interviews. Our findings are highly credible due to the replicative design of the experiments.

Seit dem Hohepunkt der Fluchtlingsmigration im Jahr 2015 hat die gesellschaftliche Debatte uber Zuwanderung an Scharfe gewonnen. Insbesondere nach der „Silvesternacht“ in Koln 2015/2016 stand dabei die Frage im Vordergrund, ob die in Deutschland lebenden Muslime eine Bedrohung westlicher Normen der Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter darstellen. Ausgehend von dieser Beobachtung und dem theoretischen Konzept des „cultural threat“ untersuchen wir, ob sich Einstellungen gegenuber Muslimen geschlechterspezifisch gewandelt haben. Auf Grundlage des ALLBUS (1996, 2006 und 2016) betrachten wir die Einstellungen zu verschiedenen Migrantengruppen im Zeitverlauf und analysieren, ob sich diese fur Frauen und Manner unterschiedlich verandert haben. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass solche Einstellungen im Zeitverlauf relativ stabil geblieben sind und sich weiterhin keine bedeutsamen Unterschiede zwischen den Geschlechtern identifizieren lassen. Insgesamt sind Asylbewerber allerdings deutlich unbeliebter als andere Herkunftsgruppen, wahrend soziale Distanzen auch gegenuber Turkeistammigen abgenommen haben.

Das Kapitel befasst sich mit der Erfassung politischen Wissens in der Allgemeinen Bevolkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften (ALLBUS). Es wird dargestellt, wie fur die Erhebungen 2008 und 2018 dieser Querschnittsstudie ein Instrument zur Erfassung politischen Wissens basierend auf Einreichungen zu Calls of Proposals und mithilfe von Pilotstudien entwickelt und in den Hauptstudien eingesetzt wurde. Thematisiert werden dabei grundlegende Entscheidungen zum Design des eingesetzten Wissensquiz und dessen Modifikation sowie Restriktionen, die bei der Entwicklung und dem Einsatz auftraten. Neben der Darstellung der Wissensfragen werden dabei auch empirische Ergebnisse zu den Wissensfragen sowohl der jeweiligen Pilotstudien als auch der Haupterhebungen 2008 und 2018 prasentiert und erlautert.

Respondent incentives are a popular instrument to achieve higher response rates in surveys. However, the use of incentives is still a controversial topic in the methodological literature with regard to the possible reduction or increase in response quality. We conducted an experiment in a large-scale German face-to-face study in which the treatment group was promised a modest monetary incentive. We used different indicators of response quality and compared the incentivized group with the control group. Our results indicate that in general there are no systematic differences between the incentivized and the control group concerning response quality. We found some hints that specific subgroups react differently to incentives in terms of response behavior. While response quality usually tends to be lower for older respondents, we found that in the incentivized group the response quality is higher for older respondents as compared to younger ones regarding the level of item nonresponse.

Occupation coding, an important task in official statistics, refers to coding a respondent’s text answer into one of many hundreds of occupation codes. To date, occupation coding is still at least partially conducted manually, at great expense. We propose three methods for automatic coding: combining separate models for the detailed occupation codes and for aggregate occupation codes, a hybrid method that combines a duplicate-based approach with a statistical learning algorithm, and a modified nearest neighbor approach. Using data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), we show that the proposed methods improve on both the coding accuracy of the underlying statistical learning algorithm and the coding accuracy of duplicates where duplicates exist. Further, we find defining duplicates based on ngram variables (a concept from text mining) is preferable to one based on exact string matches.

Occupation coding, an important task in official statistics, refers to coding a respondent's text answer into one of many hundreds of occupation codes. To date, occupation coding is still at least partially conducted manually at great expense. We propose two new methods for automatic coding: a hybrid method that combines a rule-based approach based on duplicates with a statistical learning algorithm, and a modified nearest neighbor approach. Using data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), we show that both methods improve on both the coding accuracy of the underlying statistical learning algorithm and the coding accuracy of duplicates where duplicates exist. We also find that statistical learning is improved by combining separate models for the detailed occupation codes and for aggregate occupation codes. Further, we and defing duplicates based on n-gram variables (a concept from text mining) is preferable to one based on exact string matches.

The determinants of the decision to naturalize for first and second generation “labor migrants” in Germany are examined. We assume that Turkish migrants’ comparatively high naturalization rate cannot be explained by the legal advantages they gain by naturalizing. We argue instead that naturalization offers an opportunity for individual upward mobility to Turkish migrants who have achieved a high level of individual assimilation. Using data from the GSOEP, we show that individual assimilation does in fact promote naturalization for Turkish migrants, but not for members of other ethnic groups, which generally have higher status within German society.

In survey research, a consensus has grown regarding the effectiveness of incentives encouraging survey participation across different survey modes and target populations. Most of this research has been based on surveys from the United States, whereas few studies have provided evidence that these results can be generalized to other contexts. This paper is the first to present comprehensive information concerning the effects of incentives on response rates and nonresponse bias across large-scale surveys in Germany. The context could be viewed as a critical test for incentive effects because Germany’s population is among the most survey-critical in the world, with very low response rates. Our results suggest positive incentive effects on response rates and patterns of effects that are similar to those in previous research: The effect increased with the monetary value of the incentive; cash incentives affected response propensity more strongly than lottery tickets do; and prepaid incentives could be more cost effective than conditional incentives. We found mixed results for the effects of incentives on nonresponse bias. Regarding large-scale panel surveys, we could not unequivocally confirm that incentives increased response rates in later panel waves. This is a pre‐copyedited, author‐produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in "Public Opinion Quarterly" following peer review. The version of record Are Incentive Effects on Response Rates and Nonresponse Bias in Large‐Scale, Face‐to‐Face Surveys Generalizable in Germany? Evidence from Ten Experiments / Klaus Pforr, Michael Blohm, Annelies G. Blom, Barbara Erdel, Barbara Felderer, Mathis Fräßdorf, Kristin Hajek, Susanne Helmschrott, Corinna Kleinert, Achim Koch, Ulrich Krieger, Martin Kroh, Silke Martin, Denise Saßenroth, Claudia Schmiedeberg, Eva‐Maria. In: Public Opinion Quarterly 79 (2015), 3, pp. 740‐768 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfv014

Die Ausschopfungsquoten von Bevolkerungsumfragen sinken in vielen westlichen Landern (Atrostic et al. 2001; Brick und Williams 2013; de Leeuw und de Heer 2002; Dixon und Tucker 2010; National Research Council 2013; fur Deutschland siehe Reuband 2011; Schnell 1997). Ausschopfungsquoten unter 50 Prozent stellen bei Haushaltsbefragungen in Europa heutzutage keine seltenen Ausnahmefalle mehr dar (Kreuter 2013; Matsuo und Loosveldt 2013). In vielen Fallen haben Umfrageinstitute versucht, durch vermehrten Aufwand bei der Datenerhebung (z.B. durch haufigere Kontaktversuche oder den Einsatz von Befragtenincentives) den negativen Trend zu stoppen – zumeist nur mit masigem Erfolg. Als Konsequenz sind rucklaufige Ausschopfungen trotz steigender Umfragekosten zu verzeichnen.

A series of 138 nonchiral 3-amidinobenzyl-1H-indole-2-carboxamides and analogues as inhibitors of the blood coagulation enzyme factor Xa (fXa) were designed, synthesized, and investigated by X-ray structure analysis and 3D quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) studies (CoMFA, CoMSIA) in order to identify important protein-ligand interactions responsible for biological affinity and selectivity. Several compounds from this series are highly potent and selective inhibitors of this important enzyme linking extrinsic and intrinsic coagulation pathways. To rationalize biological affinity and to provide guidelines for further design, all compounds were docked into the factor Xa binding site. Those docking studies were based on X-ray structures of factor Xa in complex with literature-known inhibitors. It was possible to validate those binding modes by four X-ray crystal structures of representative ligands in factor Xa, while one ligand was additionally crystallized in trypsin to rationalize requirements for selective factor Xa inhibition. The 3D-QSAR models based on a superposition rule derived from these docking studies were validated using conventional and cross-validated r(2) values using the leave-one-out method and repeated analyses using two randomly chosen cross-validation groups plus randomization of biological activities. This led to consistent and highly predictive 3D-QSAR models with good correlation coefficients for both CoMFA and CoMSIA, which were found to correspond to experimentally determined factor Xa binding site topology in terms of steric, electrostatic, and hydrophobic complementarity. Subsets selected as smaller training sets using 2D fingerprints and maximum dissimilarity methods resulted in 3D-QSAR models with remarkable correlation coefficients and a high predictive power. The final quantitative SAR information agrees with all experimental data for the binding topology and thus provides reasonable activity predictions for novel factor Xa inhibitors.

Zusammenfassung Anhand einer quantitativen Befragung türkischer Einwanderer in Mannheim (N= 759) wird die Interviewteilnahme von Migranten als mehrstufiger Prozess untersucht. Ziel des Aufsatzes ist es, die typischen „Problemgruppen“ bei Befragungen dieser Population zu identifizieren. Hierzu wird erstens anhand von Erfahrungsberichten aus anderen Studien gezeigt, dass bei weiblichen, älteren und weniger gut „assimilierten“ Migranten besonders hohe Ausfälle zu erwarten sind. Zweitens werden verschiedene mögliche Maßnahmen bei der Feldarbeit dargestellt, die geeignet erscheinen, um diese Ausfälle zu verhindern (zweisprachige Interviewer und Erhebungsinstrumente, geschlechterhomogene Zuordnung von Interviewern und Zielpersonen, lange Feldzeit etc.). Drittens wird untersucht, wie sich diese Maßnahmen auf das Teilnahmeverhalten unterschiedlicher sozio-demographischer Subgruppen auswirken. Dabei wird zum einen das Teilnahmeverhalten der befragten türkischen Migranten mit dem von Deutschen verglichen. Zum anderen wird die Nettostichprobe der Befragung in Mannheim auf subgruppenspezifische Ausfälle hin untersucht, indem sie mit den Nettostichproben anderer Befragungen von Nichtdeutschen verglichen wird. Es zeigt sich, dass bei der Verwendung zweisprachiger Erhebungsinstrumente systematische Ausfälle nur bei älteren Migranten zu erwarten sind.

Kaum eine Technologie hat sich so schnell verbreitet und das mediale und kommunikative Verhalten weiter Bevolkerungskreise verandert wie das Internet. Es kann deshalb auch nicht uberraschen, dass die Moglichkeiten dieser Technik innerhalb der Markt- und Sozialforschung zunehmend an Bedeutung gewinnen. Die auf das Jahr 2006 bezogenen Zahlen des Arbeitskreises Deutscher Markt- und Sozialforschungsinstitute e.V. (ADM)2 weisen z.B. aus, dass beim Vergleich der gangigen Befragungsarten der Anteil von Online-Interviews auf mittlerweile 21 Prozent gestiegen ist und damit weit uber dem traditionellschriftlicher Befragungen liegt (acht Prozent). Der Anteil personlich-mundlicher Interviews liegt mit 25 Prozent nur geringfugig hoher, wahrend telefonische Befragungen mit einem Anteil von 46 Prozent deutlich dominieren. Auch wenn nach wie vor Befragungen uberwiegend interviewer-administriert (d.h. telefonisch oder personlich-mundlich) durchgefuhrt werden, ist der kurze Zeitraum bemerkenswert, in dem die Online-Erhebung eine nennenswerte Grosenordnung erreicht hat: Lag ihr Anteil im Jahr 2002 bei lediglich funf Prozent, so hat er sich innerhalb von nur vier Jahren auf uber 20 Prozent erhoht.

In surveys, interviewers serve as the agents of data collection. Their task includes contacting the target persons, gaining their cooperation, and conducting the interviews according to the rules of standardized interviewing. Interviewers are not equally successful at doing their job. They differ both in the quality of the data collected and in the response rate they achieve (Biemer & Lyberg, 2003, pp. 110–11, p. 156ff.). It is often difficult to distinguish to what extent these differences arise from differences among interviewers or from differences between the areas (and the target persons, living in these areas) assigned to the interviewers. Research using interpenetrated sample designs, however, has shown that interviewer effects can remain strong even when area effects are controlled (Campanelli & O’Muircheartaigh, 1999).

This paper examines political attitudes and behavioural intentions of immigrants in the field of voting behaviour. Based on a quantitative survey of the population of Turkish origin in Mannheim, Germany, and data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), we show that the political attitudes of immigrants reflect their marginal legal status: immigrants show a lower interest in the political processes of the host country and a lower identification with its political institutions than natives, and this difference is only partly explained by immigrants’ lower socio-economic status. Alienation from institutions in the host country increases migrants’ likelihood of considering ethnically segregated immigrant parties as more suitable for representing their interests than the political parties of the host country. A closer look at the political attitudes of these supporters of immigrant parties reveals, however, little evidence of collective interest formation among this group.

Consequent application of a modern integrated hydrocarbon exploration concept demonstrated by selected case histories shows that even in a highly matured exploration area like West Germany combinations of less conventional exploration techniques can minimize the risk and improve the success ratios, while reducing the exploration expenditures.