Jürgen H. P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik is professor at the Institute of Political Science at Justus Liebig-University in Gießen, 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 Göttingen, Germany.

Contents 1

List of Abbreviations 4

1 Introduction, Problem, and Research Question 5

References 9

Part I: Harmonization of Survey Questions 11

2 Harmonization of Demographic and Socioeconomic Survey Questions: From National Concepts to Internationally Comparable Measurements 11

References 15

3 Demographic and Socioeconomic Questions in Surveys 17

3.1 List of Demographic and Socioeconomic Variables 17

3.2 Private Household 18

3.3 Education 22

3.4 Labor Force Measures 29

3.4.1 Labor Force Status 28

3.4.2 Occupation 31

3.4.3 Job Autonomy 32

3.4.4 Developing an Instrument for Labor Force Measures 33

3.5 Total Net Household Income 37

3.6 Ethnicity 43

3.6.1 Objective Criteria: Citizenship, Residency Status, Mother Tongue, and Migration Background 44

3.6.2 Subjective Criteria: Ethnic Group Membership 50

References 51

Part II: The Questionnaire 56

4 The Harmonized Questionnaire for Sociodemographic Measures 56

References 76

References 80

5 Central Project Coordinators 81

5.1 Harmonization of Sociodemographic Variables and the Tasks and Responsibilities of the Central Project Coordinators 82

5.2 Handling National Particularities of Sociodemographic Measures 83

5.3 Handling Sociodemographic Variables 84

References 88

6 National Research Teams 90

6.1 Cognitive Pretesting 91

6.1.1 The Think-Aloud Method for Pretesting Questionnaires 93

6.1.2 Probes 94

6.1.3 Pilot Study 94

6.2 Documentation 93

6.3 Handling Sociodemographic Variables 93

References 96

7 National Field Agencies and Their Interviewers 98

7.1 Project Instructions 98

7.1.1 Project Instructions for Supervisors 101

7.1.2 Project Instructions for the Interviewers 102

7.2 Interviewer Training for Face-to-Face Interviews 101

7.3 Handling Sociodemographic Questions in the Field 105

References 106

8 Respondents 108

8.1 Answering Survey Questions 108

8.2 Handling of Sociodemographic Variables by the Respondents 109

References 111

9 Data Processing Units 112

9.1 Data Preparation by the National Research Teams 112

9.3 Handling Sociodemographic Variables 114

References 116

Appendix 117

Further Reading 123

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.