Student Life Cycle Panel (SLC)

wgtdistrim trims extreme sampling weights using the weight distribution approach suggested by Potter (1990). The reciprocal of the sampling weights are assumed to follow a (scaled) beta distribution. The parameters of the beta distribution are estimated from the sampling weights and the trimming levels (cut-offs) are computed for the specified percentiles. Sampling weights that are more extreme than the specified percentiles are trimmed to these percentiles and the excess is distributed equally among the untrimmed sampling weights so that the sum of the trimmed sampling weights equals the sum of the untrimmed sampling weights. This process is repeated a specified number of times (or until the trimmed sampling weights do no longer change).

Unequal access to university and the decision processes that give rise to it are important factors in the accumulation of educational inequalities. In this paper, we investigate a specific aspect of such decision processes by focusing on those students who change their original plans to start a (nontertiary) vocational education and decide to pursue a tertiary degree instead. In doing so, we find that more than one-fifth of the students in our sample who originally planned to pursue a vocational education change their original decision in this way.

Germany has a highly differentiated school system which opens up different paths to higher education entrance qualifications. However, recent sociological research on school leavers' qualification decisions has mainly only included selective aspects of the previous educational biography. The aim of this article is, therefore, (1) to identify the various patterns of educational progression before the higher education entrance qualification is acquired and (2) to determine the extent to which the decision to enter a university, a university of applied sciences, or not to enrol differs according to these patterns. Special attention is paid to the classic inequality dimensions of gender and educational background. To investigate these questions

This paper focuses on dual qualifications (vocational and academic) and on how they affect social disparities in the probability of going to university. We analyze data from the DZHW Panel Study of School Leavers with a Higher Education Entrance Qualification 2012 to assess whether students find their way into academia via alternative pathways (vocational training) and whether this reduces existing social disparities in their likelihood of studying. This approach allows us to look at the educational pathways and detours to higher education over a more extended time than has been done in earlier studies and to highlight the effect of the timing of vocational training. On the one hand, our results confirm earlier findings ...

Despite reform efforts in education policy, social inequalities in the transition to tertiary education still persist in Germany. Following Boudon’s (1974) distinction between primary and secondary effects of social origin, various studies have addressed the question to what extent these effects contribute to social inequality, but they usually only approximate the explanatory contribution of secondary effects. By estimating a decomposition analysis based on a current data set from the German Panel Study of School Leavers, we are able to examine the extent to which primary and secondary origin effects, and especially their individual components, explain social inequalities in the decision to enrol. It turns out that differences ...

The German initiative of excellence was the most far-reaching political measure in university funding–a shift from an equal distribution of funds, rooted in Humboldt’s tradition, to large-scale merit-based funding. Recent studies have examined the question how the initiative has affected (in)equality in university funding; but as yet little is known about effects on graduates’ monetary returns for university degrees. We analyse whether a degree from a ‘university of excellence’ leads to a wage premium at labour market entry. Inspired by previous work that found advantages only for subgroups, we further analyse whether the excellence effect on wages differs by social background and gender.

Collecting life history data is highly demanding and therefore prone to error since respondentsmust retrieve and provide extensive complex information. Research has shown that responseburden is an important factor influencing data quality. We examine whether increases indifferent measures of response burden in a (mixed-device) online survey lead to adverseeffects on the data quality and whether these effects vary by the type of device used (mobileversus non-mobile).

Because retrospective collection of life history data requires respondents to retrieve and provide complex information, the process is highly demanding for respondents and prone to error. While a standard questionnaire does not align well with the structure of autobiographical memory, the use of a life history calendar (LHC) may facilitate cognitive processes and reduce response burden. It is unclear, however, whether LHCs yield favourable effects in self-administered mixed-device surveys. To clarify the effects of LHCs, we developed a survey on educational and occupational trajectories in a highly educated population. The survey included an experimental variation using a responsive LHC.

While there are numerous studies on the influence of study opportunities on the decision to attend higher education, studies on determinants of school leavers´´ regional mobility are comparatively rare. This article addresses the question which factors influence the geographical distance between school location and university. Using theories of rational choice, we develop a theoretical framework that integrates several mechanisms explaining mobility. For the analyses, we employ a mobility measure of geographical distance (in kilometres) between the university and the school where the university entrance qualification was obtained.

This article examines (1) which factors promote or hinder regional mobility within Germany when bachelor graduates take up a master’s programme, and (2) which factors influence the distance of migration when graduates change to a new university. Building on rational choice-based theories of migration we describe a change of university as a two-staged migration decision and analyse it using zero-inflated Poisson Regression models. Data from the 2012 DZHW panel study of school leavers with higher education entry certificate were linked to regional indicators from official statistics. n addition to the role of educational background, results indicate that previous migration experiences promote regional mobility.

Although the issue is of utmost importance for panel studies, there is not much evidence on how survey frequency affects the stability of a panel (see most recently Zabel 1998 for very short wave intervals). From a theoretical point of view, a higher contact frequency might lead to a lower rate of unsuccessful contact attempts through increased bonding with the respondents and address maintenance. The latter is of particular relevance for highly mobile respondent groups such as students or university graduates. Moreover, a higher survey frequency also offers the advantage of shorter periods of time for the retrospective collection of life history data (Haunberger 2010). This should reduce recall errors and cognitive burden for respondents.

Research on the impact of personality traits on social integration in the university context is still scarce. In this study, we investigate how university students’ Big Five personality traits influence the development of their social integration over time. Furthermore, we analyze whether the fit of the students’ Big Five profile to their environment at university, specifically their chosen major, affects their social integration. For our analysis, we use the student cohort of the National Educational Panel (NEPS) study, which follows freshmen who enrolled in the winter term 2010 over the course of their studies and estimate growth curve models.

In the field of educational research, there are already findings on multiplicative effects that can be attributed to an intersectionality persepective: For higher education, Lörz's (2019) findings suggest that immigrant youth from non-academic homes are less likely to complete their studies. The aim of our study is to investigate how determinants of social inequality (immigrant background and parental educational level) impacts the relationship between conscientiousness and academic achievement. We use data from the 2008 cohort of a German panel study (Heine et al., 2017). The data enable to investigate the effects of the Big Five personality traits on the (perceived) achievement in university over a span of five years.

Lörz's (2019) findings suggest that immigrant youth from non-academic homes are less likely to complete their studies. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the effect of conscientiousness on academic achievement varies with determinants of social inequality (immigrant background and parental educational level). We focus on conscientiousness because it is one of the most important factors influencing academic achievement outside the domain of cognitive factors (Poropat, 2009). We use data from the 2008 cohort of the DZHW Panel Study of School Leavers (Heine et al., 2017). The data make it possible to investigate the effects of the Big Five personality traits on the (perceived) achievement in university over a span of five years.

Findings by Lörz (2019) suggest that students with an immigrant background from non-academic parents are less likely to complete their studies. Therefore we investigate: (1) Do members of this group show evidence for poorer academic performance? (2) Does the effect of conscientiousness on academic performance vary between members of this and other groups? Using data from the DZHW-Studienberechtigtenpanel 2008 (Heine et al. 2008) we found (1) lower (self-assessed) academic performance by Members of the aforementioned group. Moreover, (2) although in other groups there is evidence for a positive effect of conscientiousnesson academic performance , this is not the case in the aforementioned group.