Co-expertise and Organization of a Conference on the Germany Monitor
Project period: October 2021
Research Areas:
Tasks
In its final report, the Commission "30 Years of Peaceful Revolution and German Unity" proposes the establishment of a "Germany Monitor" to systematically gather information about citizens' attitudes and moods on economic, political and other socially relevant issues. The Germany Monitor is intended to provide a representative picture of the population in Germany and, in particular, to allow a small-scale evaluation. In view of the potentially considerable costs of such a regular survey, the German government announced in its statement on the commission's final report that it would commission expert opinions on the concept of the Germany Monitor, discuss them scientifically and only on this basis make a decision on further implementation. In this project, the ifo Institute comments on the methodological approach proposed in the "Preliminary Study on the Conceptual Design of a Germany Monitor" by the Halle Center for Social Research (together with infratest DIMAP and the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena) and provides some suggestions regarding the further questions posed in the call for papers.
Methods
Evaluation of the "Preliminary Study on the Conceptual Design of a Germany Monitor" with regard to innovations of the Monitor for Science and Politics; Proposals for the Governance of the Germany Monitor
Data and Other Sources
"Preliminary Study on the Conceptual Design of a Germany Monitor" by the Halle Center for Social Research (together with infratest DIMAP and Friedrich Schiller University Jena).
Results
The ifo Institute suggests that the Germany Monitor should not be designed as an independent additional survey, but rather that existing surveys such as the ALLBUS should be expanded in line with the objectives of the Germany Monitor. Furthermore, the ifo Institute recommends that attention be focused to good governance in setting up the Germany Monitor. This includes the establishment of competent advisory bodies such as a user advisory board and an internationally staffed scientific advisory board, as well as open, tiered data access (scientific use file, FDZ access to particularly protected data).
