Sociodemographic Questionnaire Modules for Comparative Social Surveys

Above all, this book focuses on the application of sociodemographic survey questions. Based on theoretical foundations, it addresses the operationalization of variables and presents socio-demographic questionnaire modules for within- and across-country comparative survey research. The book pursues three main objectives: to provide a thorough and comprehensive overview of the survey instruments currently available for the measurement of sociodemographic variables in cross-national comparative research; to offer the reader a set of harmonized international demographic standards; and to show how these standards can be implemented by the various parties involved in international comparative surveys – from the central project coordinators, to the researchers on the national survey teams, to the fieldwork agencies and their interviewers, to respondents, and eventually, to the data processing experts preparing the datasets for comparative analysis. The book offers a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners and students actively involved in producing and analyzing sociodemographic survey data. The typical readers will be social science researchers, qualified consultants and professionals interested in the field of (comparative) survey research. The book can also serve as a useful supplement to introductory textbooks on survey methodology and is suitable for Bachelor and Master students of the social sciences. 

Jurgen H. P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik is professor at the Institute of Political Science at Justus Liebig-University in Giesen, Germany, and former head of the Knowledge Transfer Unit at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim, Germany. Until 2011, he coordinated and organized the GESIS workshop and seminar program as well as the GESIS Summer School on Survey Methodology. His main research interests are standardization and harmonization of demographic and socio-economic background variables for national and international comparison and cross-country comparative survey research.

Dr. Uwe Warner was senior researcher at CEPS/"The International Network for Studies in Technology, Environment, Alternatives, Development (INSTEAD)", Luxembourg until 2014. His main research topics are cross-national comparative survey research, poverty, income and well-being, and socio-demographic background variables. Currently, he is visiting researcher at the Center of Methods in Social Sciences, Georg August-University Gottingen, Germany.