The FReDA data set is growing

On May 31, FReDA has published the complete data set of the second survey wave! The data from the W2A and W2B surveys (including W2A partners and W2B partners) are now available to researchers and can be requested via GESIS.

With the release of wave 2, two additional interview dates for anchor persons (and their partners) have been added to the FReDA dataset. This means that FReDA now offers up-to-date data from five sub-surveys (W1R, W1A, W1B, W2A and W2B) and thus also enables longitudinal analyses. The additional questioning of partners also makes dyadic studies possible.

Detailed information on the data release of the second wave of FReDA can be found in the FReDA Field Report, which you can download here.

Field time of the surveys

Recruitment wave W1R 07.04.2021 - 29.06.2021
Partial wave W1A Anchor 07.07.2021 - 22.09.2021
Partial wave W1A Partner 11.08.2021 - 17.11.2021
Partial wave W1B Anchor 04.11.2021 - 31.03.2022

Partial wave W2A Anchor 04.05.2022 - 07.07.2022
Partial wave W2A Partner 22.05.2022 - 07.09.2022
Partial wave W2B Anchor 12.10.2022 - 31.01.2023
Partial wave W2B Partner 02.11.2022 - 01.03.2023

With the release of the second wave, the developments and changes in the respondents' family environment can be observed and analyzed. We are very excited about future studies, for example with regard to developments in partnerships (e.g. moving in together, marriage, separation), starting a family (e.g. number of children) or career changes. FReDA's extensive data allows for a great deal of differentiation and promises exciting analyses.

New question modules added

The FReDA dataset allows representative analyses of the situation and changes in family life, including family forms, family dynamics, fertility, parenthood, socialization as well as separation and divorce in the context of, for example, the labour market, mobility and health. In addition, some new question modules have been added with the release of wave 2. These include, among others:

• Questions on personality
  (e.g. items on self-esteem and BIG 5)
• Items on coparenting with partner or ex-partner
  (e.g. differences of opinion or teamwork in raising children)
• If applicable, information on a separation
  (e.g. who initiated the separation, what were the reasons, how are the respondents doing)
• A module on life as a single person
  (e.g. satisfaction as a single person, desire for a partnership, active partner search)

Open modules also surveyed

In the second wave, you will also find the data from the open modules that were submitted by researchers to FReDA for the first time and surveyed in fall 2022. These are questions on the four subject areas

• Affective touch behavior
• Sexual orientation
• Transnational families
• Knowledge about fertility

Pairfam sample part of the surveys for the first time

In addition, the pairfam sample was integrated into the FReDA survey in the second wave. Since 2022, pairfam has now been part of FReDA and this integration means that researchers continue to have access to the usual pairfam panel data. The content-related focus of pairfam on partnership and family-related questions remains in FReDA and the multi-actor design enables the dyadic survey of partners.

The 14th pairfam survey wave completed in early summer 2022 was therefore the last independent pairfam survey - and it already marked the transition to FReDA: most pairfam anchors and their partners were surveyed online for the first time, which corresponds to the main mode in FReDA. The processed data from pairfam surveys 1-14 are available - more information on pairfam data access can be found here.

Participation in FReDA remains very high

As in the first wave, the FReDA surveys are pleased with the lively participation of the panelists; the number of completed and returned interviews remains very high.

Sub-wave W2A was in the field from May 4 to July 7, 2022. A total of 30,114 anchor respondents were invited to take part in the survey, and 23,548 completed interviews were returned. Of these, 20,455 (86.9%) interviews were answered in CAWI form, 3,093 (13.1%) questionnaires were completed in PAPI form.

A further 8,017 interviews are available from the partners of the anchor persons (7,970 partners plus 47 ex-partners).

Subwave W2B was then in the field from October 12, 2022 to January 31, 2023. A total of 27,270 anchor persons were contacted, 22,424 of whom took part in the survey. 20,230 interviews were answered in CAWI, 2,194 in PAPI form. The participation of partners was also very high in wave W2B, with a total of 7,302 interviews (7,272 partners plus 30 ex-partners).

The web-based participation in W2A took an average of around 18.5 minutes, while the web-based answering of the W2B questionnaire took an average of 20.3 minutes.

FReDA Data Portal invites you to do research

With the release of the second wave, FReDA is making a very attractive data set available to the scientific community. You can get an impression of this yourself in our FReDA Data Portal. The data portal is freely accessible and invites researchers to explore the panel study in more detail.

The FReDA Data Portal offers a wide range of research options:

• Search: find questions and variables relevant to your research and locate them in the web-based FReDA questionnaires and datasets.
• Questionnaires: Search each web-based FReDA questionnaire individually and get a complete overview of the question routing.
• Variables: Discover all variables of the FReDA Scientific Use Files and get comprehensive information on valid/invalid cases, frequency distributions and descriptive statistics.
• Longitudinal data: Track variables across waves and see how their distribution changes over time.
• Linkages: Instantly see how different questions and variables in the FReDA sub-waves are related to each other.
• Bilingualism: Explore the FReDA questions and variables in German or English.

Click here for the freely accessible FReDA Data Portal.

Uncomplicated data access via GESIS

Researchers can now request the complete data set of the first and second survey waves from GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. The data are available to researchers for scientific and non-commercial purposes, and access to the data is free of charge.

If you are interested in using the data, you must conclude a data usage contract and verify that you belong to the scientific community. Once the contract has been checked, the data will be made available to you as "scientific use files" from GESIS. If you have any questions about data access, dataservices@gesis.org.

By the way: Students also have the opportunity to work and research with FReDA data as part of their thesis. They can apply for data access via their lecturer. Once they have signed a user agreement with GESIS, they will also receive data access to the anonymized dataset published for researchers.

We have compiled a brief overview with the most important information for you here.

You can download the data usage agreement here.

In this article you will find the data documentation for the FReDA datasets.

If you have any questions about the content of the FReDA data, please contact support.freda@gesis.org.

Further information can of course also be found on our website freda-panel.de.