Generations and Gender Survey (GGS): Towards a better understanding of relationships and processes in the life course

Andres Vikat; Zsolt Spéder; Gijs Beets; Francesco Billari; Christoph Bühler; Aline Désesquelles; Tineke Fokkema; Jan M. Hoem; Alphonse MacDonald; Gerda Neyer; Ariane Pailhé; Antonella Pinnelli; Anne Solaz

doi:10.4054/DemRes.2007.17.14

Volume 17 - Article 14 | Pages 389–440

Generations and Gender Survey (GGS): Towards a better understanding of relationships and processes in the life course

By Andres Vikat, Zsolt Spéder, Gijs Beets, Francesco Billari, Christoph Bühler, Aline Désesquelles, Tineke Fokkema, Jan M. Hoem, Alphonse MacDonald, Gerda Neyer, Ariane Pailhé, Antonella Pinnelli, Anne Solaz

Date received:

20 Nov 2006

Date published:

30 Nov 2007

Word count:

17769

Keywords:

economic activity, event history, family, fertility, gender, generation, household, panel studies, survey, values

DOI:

10.4054/DemRes.2007.17.14

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Abstract

The Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) is one of the two pillars of the Generations and Gender Programme designed to improve understanding of demographic and social development and of the factors that influence these developments. This article describes how the theoretical perspectives applied in the survey, the survey design and the questionnaire are related to this objective.
The key features of the survey include panel design, multidisciplinarity, comparability, context-sensitivity, inter-generational and gender relationships. The survey applies the life course approach, focussing on the processes of childbearing, partnership dynamics, home leaving, and retiring. The selection of topics for data collection mainly follows the criterion of theoretically grounded relevance to explaining one or more of the mentioned processes. A large portion of the survey deals with economic aspects of life, such as economic activity, income, and economic well-being; a comparably large section is devoted to values and attitudes. Other domains covered by the survey include gender relationships, household composition and housing, residential mobility, social networks and private transfers, education, health, and public transfers. The third chapter of the article describes the motivations for their inclusion.
The GGS questionnaire is designed for a face-to-face interview. It includes the core that each participating country needs to implement in full, and four optional sub-modules on nationality and ethnicity, on previous partners, on intentions of breaking up, and on housing, respectively. The participating countries are encouraged to include also the optional sub-modules to facilitate comparative research on these topics.

Author's Affiliation

Andres Vikat - United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Switzerland EMAIL
Zsolt Spéder - Népességtudományi Kutatóintézet (Hungarian Demographic Research Institute), Hungary EMAIL
Gijs Beets - Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut (NIDI), the Netherlands EMAIL
Francesco Billari - Università Bocconi, Italy EMAIL
Christoph Bühler - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany EMAIL
Aline Désesquelles - Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED), France EMAIL
Tineke Fokkema - Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut (NIDI), the Netherlands EMAIL
Jan M. Hoem - Stockholms Universitet, Sweden EMAIL
Alphonse MacDonald - United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Switzerland EMAIL
Gerda Neyer - Stockholms Universitet, Sweden EMAIL
Ariane Pailhé - Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED), France EMAIL
Antonella Pinnelli - Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy EMAIL
Anne Solaz - Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED), France EMAIL