@incollection{AssmannSteinhauerWuerbachetal., author = {Aßmann, Christian and Steinhauer, Hans Walter and W{\"u}rbach, Ariane and Zinn, Sabine and Hammon, Angelina and Kiesl, Hans and Rohwer, G{\"o}tz and R{\"a}ssler, Susanne and Blossfeld, Hans-Peter}, title = {Sampling Designs of the National Educational Panel Study: Setup and Panel Development}, series = {Education as a Lifelong Process}, booktitle = {Education as a Lifelong Process}, editor = {Blossfeld, Hans-Peter and Roßbach, Hans-G{\"u}nther}, publisher = {Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden}, address = {Wiesbaden}, isbn = {978-3-658-23161-3}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-23162-0_3}, pages = {35 -- 55}, abstract = {The German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) was set up to provide an empirical basis for longitudinal analyses of individuals' educational careers and competencies and how they unfold over the life course in relation to family, formal educational institutions, and private life. Educational developments and decisions over the life span are being tracked in six starting cohorts as a foundation for characterizing and analyzing educational processes. These six starting cohorts include newborns, Kindergarten children, secondary school children (5th and 9th grade), first-year undergraduate students, and adults. Because access to the target population in several starting cohorts was gained via educational institutions such as Kindergartens and schools, multistage sampling approaches were implemented that reflect the clustered structure of the target populations. Samples in individual contexts, such as those in the adult and newborn cohorts, were established via register-based stratified cluster approaches. This chapter briefly reviews the designs of the implemented sampling strategies for each established starting cohort and provides information on the levels of attrition in the panel development.}, language = {en} }