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Measuring Students’ Social and Academic Integration—Assessment of the Operationalization in the National Educational Panel Study

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Methodological Issues of Longitudinal Surveys

Abstract

Dropping out of higher education is a prevalent phenomenon in Germany—about every fourth college student does not graduate—that affects educational returns to a considerable degree. Therefore, dropouts are a topic of major interest in the higher education stage of the NEPS. With the NEPS data, it is possible to study dropouts from higher education with large-scale, nationwide, representative data from a longitudinal perspective. In order to better understand the mechanisms of dropout, the NEPS provides researchers with the opportunity to analyze the role of social and academic integration (Tinto 1975, 1993)—in addition to rational choice-based measures—in the dropout process. Despite the prevalence of the integration concept in the Anglo-Saxon literature, only a few attempts have been undertaken to operationalize and apply social and academic integration to the German context. NEPS Stage 7 tries to close this gap by reassembling and testing several instruments that are well-established in Germany and can be considered to adequately measure social and academic integration. Analyses of factorial and criterion-related validity show that the NEPS provides a parsimonious measure of relevant aspects of students’ integration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hannover, Deutschland

    Gunther Dahm

  2. Wiesbaden, Deutschland

    Oliver Lauterbach

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  1. Gunther Dahm
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  2. Oliver Lauterbach
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Correspondence to Gunther Dahm .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

    Hans-Peter Blossfeld

  2. Direktorium, Leibniz Inst of Edu courses (LIfBi), Bamberg, Germany

    Jutta von Maurice

  3. LIfBi, Bamberg, Germany

    Michael Bayer

  4. SPS, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

    Jan Skopek

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Dahm, G., Lauterbach, O. (2016). Measuring Students’ Social and Academic Integration—Assessment of the Operationalization in the National Educational Panel Study. In: Blossfeld, HP., von Maurice, J., Bayer, M., Skopek, J. (eds) Methodological Issues of Longitudinal Surveys. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-11994-2_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-11994-2_18

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