Replication Data for: Asking Volunteers: Pitfalls and Solutions for Surveying Voluntary Organisations in Germany (OA edition)

Volunteering is seen as an effective way to address a wide range of issues that are present in modern societies, in particular in rural areas. In order to gain insight into the current state of volunteering, a survey was carried out with the aim of providing an inventory of the digitalisation of volunteering and addressing the influence of spatiality in this context. This article examines the traditional data collection methods of surveys that have been used in the past to collect information on volunteering and presents a different sampling procedure based on a random sample of municipalities, due to insufficient data available from official authorities. Finally, the article discusses the results of the survey and analyses how the unique sampling procedure differs from previous approaches. The comparison with a larger survey shows that the different sampling methods produce largely identical results, at least for the central variable of organisational area. As long as no structured data are available from the public authorities, there will always be a trade-off with regard to sampling strategies and the method of contact when doing research on volunteering organisations.

志愿服务被视为解决现代社会诸多现存问题的有效途径，在农村地区尤为如此。为深入了解志愿服务的发展现状，本研究开展了一项调研，旨在盘点志愿服务的数字化情况，并探究此背景下空间性（spatiality）的影响作用。鉴于官方可获取的数据较为匮乏，本文首先梳理了过往用于采集志愿服务相关信息的传统调研数据收集方法，并提出了一种基于随机抽样市镇的全新抽样流程。最后，本文对本次调研的结果展开讨论，并分析了该独特抽样流程与过往研究方法的差异之处。通过与一项更大规模调研的对比分析可知，不同抽样方法所得到的结果大体一致，至少在组织范畴这一核心变量层面是如此。倘若无法从公共部门获取结构化数据，在开展志愿服务组织相关研究时，抽样策略与联络方式之间始终存在权衡取舍。