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
Part III: Guidelines for Handling the Harmonized Questionnaire 77
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
9.2 Data Preparation by the Central Project Coordinators 113
9.3 Handling Sociodemographic Variables 114
References 116
Appendix 117
Further Reading 123
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.