Papers
David Rose
Household Panel Studies: an Overview
Abstract
Household
panel studies are now widely available to researchers in
social science and social policy.
This paper discusses the rationale, advantages,
mechanics and problems of household panel studies.
In the first part of the article, household panels are
placed in their social, methodological, scientific and policy
contexts.
The next two sections deal respectively with design and
analysis issues.
Finally, there is a brief discussion of the existing
national and international panels and their role as social
scientific ‘observatories’.
Graham Kalton and
Constance F. Citro
Panel Surveys: Adding the Fourth Dimension
Abstract
Surveys
across time can serve many objectives.
The first half of the paper reviews the abilities of
alternative survey designs across time - repeated surveys,
panel surveys, rotating panel surveys and split panel surveys
- to meet these objectives.
The second half concentrates on panel surveys.
It discusses the decisions that need to be made in
designing a panel survey, the problems of wave nonresponse,
time-in-sample bias and the seam effect, and some methods for
the longitudinal analysis of panel survey data.
Lidia Barreiros
The European Community Household Panel (ECHP): its
Design, Scientific and Policy Purposes
Abstract
One
key objective of the European Community Household Panel Survey
(ECHP) is to develop socio-economic research as an aid to
policy in the Community in the field of household income and
living conditions based on:
-
A 12-country European micro database providing standardized, comparable information on all Member States. For the first time in the history of European socio-economic research, a comparable social micro database will be available, at substantial expense, and it should be exploited to the fullest extent possible to shed light on the concerns in the Union. (In due course, additional data will be collected from new entrants to the Union.)
-
A European network of researchers experienced in performing comparative analysis on panel data and of conducting scientific, policy-oriented reports on subjects of close interest to the Union, such as those indicated in The White Paper on European Social Policy.
This paper sketches the rationale of the ECHP, its objectives and the position reached so far in its
development.
Marcia Freed Taylor
and Gaston Schaber
An Integrated Longitudinal Database for Comparative
Analysis: the Panel Comparability Project
Abstract
The
paper will discuss the problems and challenges facing
researchers attempting to carry out comparative studies across
a number of countries and across time, trace the development
of a number of projects designed to meet these challenges, and
then focus on one particular innovative project based on the
existing household panel studies, the Panel Comparability
(PACO) project.
PACO is designed to create a harmonised longitudinal
database of comparable variables for a variety of research
purposes. A description of the project’s development,
coverage, and methodology will highlight the analytic
potential of the PACO database.
Jacqueline Scott
Using Household Panels to Study Micro-Social Change
Abstract
This
paper provides an introduction to the research potential of
household panel studies in general and the British Household
Panel, in particular. It will discuss the relative strengths
of longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis.
Panel studies, however, are only one type of
longitudinal design and the advantages and disadvantages of
panels are discussed, in comparison to repeated cross sections
and retrospective designs.
Panel studies have a number of analytical advantages.
First they make it possible to distinguish transitory
and persistent phenomena, and to disaggregate net change.
Second, panel data can help disentangle ambiguities in
causal relations by providing temporal ordering.
Third, they allow researchers to take into account the
timing (in terms of age, or life-course stage) and the
duration of conditions and experiences, both of which are
crucial for understanding social continuity and change.
Household panels have the additional feature of collecting
personal data from each adult member. This enables analysts to
explore the strong inter-dependencies of family choices and
constraints; to investigate the impact of various life events
on household members; and to examine the contextual processes
that determine individual transitions, life trajectories and
inter-generational change.
Henk-Jan Dirven and
Jos Berghman
The Evolution of Income Poverty in the Netherlands:
Results from the Dutch Socio-Economic Panel Survey
Abstract
This
contribution gives a description of the evolution of income
poverty in the Netherlands during the late 1980s. The results
show that 9.2% of the population lived below the legal
poverty line in 1988 and 14.7% below the Subjective Poverty
Line. Income poverty appeared to be strongly related to the
socio-economic group of the head of household and the main
source of income in the household. Reflecting the increase
in income inequality in the Netherlands during the late
1980s, an overall increase in the incidence of income poverty
was observed during the 1986-1988 period. An analysis of
longitudinal patterns of income poverty shows that, although
15 to 20% of the population (depending on the poverty
definition used) lived below the income poverty line in at
least one year during the 1986-1988 period, a minority of this
group was poor the entire period. Mobility rates out of income
poverty thus appear to be rather high.
Jürgen Schupp and
Gert G. Wagner
The German Socio-Economic Panel: a Database for
Longitudinal International Comparisons
Abstract
This
paper provides an introduction to the research potential of
household panel studies in general and the British Household
Panel, in particular. It will discuss the relative strengths
of longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis. Panel studies,
however, are only one type of longitudinal design and the
advantages and disadvantages of panels are discussed, in
comparison to repeated cross sections and retrospective
designs.
Panel studies have a number of analytical advantages.
First they make it possible to distinguish transitory
and persistent phenomena, and to disaggregate net change.
Second, panel data can help disentangle ambiguities in
causal relations by providing temporal ordering. Third, they
allow researchers to take into account the timing (in terms of
age, or life-course stage) and the duration of conditions and
experiences, both of which are crucial for understanding
social continuity and change. Household panels have the
additional feature of collecting personal data from each adult
member. This enables analysts to explore the strong
inter-dependencies of family choices and constraints; to
investigate the impact of various life events on household
members; and to examine the contextual processes that
determine individual transitions, life trajectories and
inter-generational change.
István György Tóth
The First Two Waves of the Hungarian Household Panel:
Methods and Results
Abstract
The
Hungarian Household Panel started in 1992 with a
representative sample of Hungarian Households. The first part
of the paper gives a non-technical overview of the design,
methods, research questions and possible uses of the study.
The second part overviews some of the analytical work
undertaken on the dataset and uses illustrative data on labour
market changes, incomes, inequalities and poverty.
