Challenges in Gaining Access: The School Cohorts of the National Educational Panel Study

Abstract

One of the German National Educational Panel Study’s (NEPS) main responsibilities is to collect data on the educational processes and competence development of students in schools. Access to the NEPS school samples is administered on an institutional basis. With regard to the multilevel-/multi-informant perspective, parents, teachers, and school principals are also requested to participate in order to receive important context information about our target persons. In addition to the special requirements of this study design, major challenges to the administration of school studies arise mainly due to the federal sovereignty and responsibility of the German educational system and to the fact that participation in all NEPS surveys is voluntary. Furthermore, the special design of the NEPS and its claim of maintaining cross-cohortional coherence provide challenging tasks, particularly with regard to obtaining access to schools and requesting the authorization of surveys in each wave. During the negotiation and administration processes within a multidimensional system with multiple players (scientists, ministries, schools, targets, etc.), various—sometimes competing and changing—interests need to be brought in line. In addition, dealing with and operationalizing a multicohort sequence design requires specific strategies that have had to be implemented to cope with the inherent complexity of the study. This article points out some central aspects, developments, and efforts in dealing with these challenges after three years of NEPS fieldwork.