German Internet Panel, Wave 56 (November 2021)

The German Internet Panel (GIP) is an infrastructure project. The GIP serves to collect data about individual attitudes and preferences which are relevant for political and economic decision-making processes.

For this wave (W56), the preceding wave (W55) and the following wave (W57), a booster sample was drawn from the forsa Omninet Panel. The waves in question are designed as a study of the 2021 federal election and the impact of Covid-19 on the federal election and society. The survey of wave 55 took place before the Bundestag election and the surveys of waves 56 and 57 took place after the Bundestag election. Especially for the federal election, the number of participants should be further increased in order to be able to make more precise statements about individual groups in society. In addition, this also enables further research by combining different samples.<br>The questionnaire contains numerous experimental variations in the survey instruments. For more information, see the study documentation.

Satisfaction with democracy; satisfaction with the performance of the federal and state governments with respect to the Corona pandemic; preferences with respect to the decision-making powers of the federal government, state governments, the German Bundestag, and the Robert Koch Institute in the event of another pandemic; trust in public bodies and institutions, two each named-experiment (federal government, local city and town government, Bundestag, political parties, European Commission, European Parliament, television, newspaper system, online social networks, colleges and universities, police, health care, Federal Constitutional Court, and judiciary); agreement with statement: During the Corona pandemic, I was fully and truthfully informed by the federal government (by the German Bundestag, by political parties, by the Robert Koch Institute, by television, by newspapers, by online social networks, by scientists); Experiments: Evaluation of curfews as a pandemic control measure; evaluation of the restriction of the right to criticize political decisions as a pandemic control measure; feeling free to express one´s opinion in public/ regarding pandemic control measures; self-assessment of willingness to take risks; risk scales: decision between two alternatives on a guaranteed amount of money vs. a 50-60 chance of 300 euros or else nothing (experiment); opinion on facilitating vs. restricting opportunities for foreigners to move to Germany; opinion on expanding vs. Restriction of social benefits; vaccination status; change in household financial situation compared to situation 12 months ago; change in general economic situation in Germany over the last 12 months; impairment of own and family health by COVID-19 crisis; impairment of general health situation in Germany by COVID-19 crisis; assessment of current economic situation in Germany; assessment of current COVID-19 situation in Germany; Opinion on European integration;

Conjoint-type experiment in the context of a trust game: Respondents ´play´ a total of three rounds of a game, in each of which they are presented with a short profile containing different information (attributes: Age, gender, income, party identification, self-ranking left-right, and position on European integration) about a randomly selected fellow citizen is presented to them (counterpart). In each round, they are asked to decide how much play money they want to give to this counterpart;

Experimental Split: After describing a person with randomly selected characteristics (opposite job title, state, vaccination status, hobby, party affiliation, position on immigration for foreigners as well as on the expansion of social benefits), respondents are asked to rate how they oppose this person. As the experiment goes through three rounds, respondents see the description of three people. These persons differ in that party identification and issue preferences are shown for the first person, only party identification for the second person, and only issue preferences for the third person;

Attachment to Germany and to Europe; hours per week spent on childcare and housework; hours per week spent on work, teaching, and studying; impact of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 (short-time work, unemployment, lost sales or wages, no impact) and duration in months; number of children in the household under 16 or no persons under 16 in the household; regular care of a child in February 2020 (before the first Corona-related closures) by daycare/kindergarten, elementary school, secondary school, a person age 60 or older, or no care by other persons or institutions; emergency care of the child during the first Corona-related closures in April 2020/this year in January 2021 by the respondent, by emergency daycare or school, by another person in the household or outside household (ages 16-59), by another person in household/outside household age 60 or older, or children were not cared for by anyone age 16 or older; caregiver or facility today; increased uncertainty about future due to COVID-19 crisis.

Demography: sex; age (year of birth, categorized); (forsa Sample 2021: sex, age and education); highest level of schooling; highest level of vocational education; marital status; household size; employment status; German nationality; frequency of private Internet use; federal state.

Additionally coded were: Respondent ID, GIP; household ID, GIP; person ID (within household); year of recruitment (2012, 2014, 2018, additional forsa sample 2021); interview date; current online status; preload experiments W55; assignment to experimental groups.

Questionnaire evaluation (interesting, varied, relevant, long, difficult, too personal); assessment of the survey overall; respondent made further comments on the questionnaire.