Abstract
Sociodemographic variables, such as private household, education, labor force status, occupation, job autonomy, household income, and ethnicity, are based on national concepts and structures. In comparative surveys, these national concepts, which are transposed into national structures via national law, can be measured only in a country-specific way and must be rendered comparable by means of harmonization. This can be done either via input harmonization carried out prior to data collection or via output harmonization after data collection. The present chapter describes the steps that these two strategies involve.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Behr, D., Braun, M., & Dorer, B. (2016). Measurement instruments in cross-national surveys. GESIS Survey Guidelines. Mannheim: GESIS–Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.
Braun, M., & Mohler, P. Ph. (2003). Background variables. In J. A. Harkness, F. J. R. van de Vijver, & P. Ph. Mohler (Eds.), Cross-cultural survey methods (pp. 99–113). Hoboken NJ: Wiley.
Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, J. H. P. (2008, April). Harmonisation of demographic and socio-economic variables in cross-national survey research. BMS, Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique, 98, 5–24.
Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, J. H. P., & Warner, U. (2014). Harmonising demographic and socio-economic variables for cross-national comparative survey research. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media.
Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, J. H. P., & Wolf, C. (2003). Comparing demographic and socio-economic variables across nations. Synthesis and recommendations. In J. H. P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik & C. Wolf (Eds.), Advances in cross-national comparison. A European working book for demographic and socio-economic variables (pp. 389–406). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Information Society Technologies and CHINTEX (1999). CHINTEX Synopsis. Contract no IST-1999-11101. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Methoden/Methodenpapiere/Chintex/ResearchResults/Downloads/Synopsis.pdf?__blob=publicationFile. Retrieved on January 26, 2018.
Johnson, T. P. (2003). Glossary. In J. A. Harkness, F. J. R. van de Vijver, & P. Ph. Mohler (Eds.), Cross-cultural survey methods (pp. 347–357). Hoboken NJ: Wiley.
Kuhry, B., Herweijer, L., & Heesakker, R. (2004). Education. In Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP) (Ed.), Public sector performance. An international comparison of education, health care, law and order and public administration (pp. 79–119). The Hague: Social and Cultural Planning Office.
Lynn, P., Japec, L., & Lyberg, L. (2006). What’s so special about cross-national surveys? In J. A. Harkness (Ed.), Conducting cross-national and cross-cultural surveys. Papers from the 2005 meeting of the International Workshop on Comparative Survey Design and Implementation (CSDI) (pp. 7–20). ZUMA-Nachrichten Spezial, 12.
Przeworski, A., & Teune, H. (1970). The logic of comparative social inquiry. New York: Wiley.
UNESCO-UIS (2017). ISCED mappings. http://uis.unesco.org/en/isced-mappings. Retrieved on January 26, 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, J.H.P., Warner, U. (2018). Harmonization of Demographic and Socioeconomic Survey Questions: From National Concepts to Internationally Comparable Measurements. In: Sociodemographic Questionnaire Modules for Comparative Social Surveys. SpringerBriefs in Population Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90209-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90209-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90208-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90209-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)