On the Treatment of Non-Original Sample Members in the German Household Panel Study (SOEP)

Household panel studies usually provide data on parents, children, and siblings, but not, e.g., on all ex-partners after a divorce or split in a cohabiting unit. This kind of information, however, can be an interesting source for intergenerational research or, more generally, for research on the dynamics of life course. To the best of our knowledge, among the diverse household panel studies, only the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) contains data on individuals entering a sample household in or after wave two also after leaving that household again. This allows all household members to be traced once having lived in the sample household. In this paper, we discuss the rationale for tracing non-original sample members (Non-OSMs) in household panel studies. We also present results on the incidence and thus the relevance of Non-OSMs in the SOEP in general, and for specific research questions in particular.