The institutes that work together on the surveys for “Living in Germany” are the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the infas Institute for Applied Social Sciences. DIW Berlin has commissioned infas to conduct the fieldwork for the SOEP surveys. All of the participating institutes work in full compliance with the provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). We have sent you a flyer containing detailed information on our data protection policies and procedures.
Aim and purpose of the study:
The study “Living in Germany” looks at your current living situation on an annual basis and covers a broad range of topics. As an independent social research study, it serves exclusively scientific purposes. It is one of the leading studies of its kind worldwide in terms of the quality, originality, significance, and reliability of the research.
Voluntary participation:
Your participation in the study “Living in Germany” is, of course, completely voluntary. There will be no negative consequences for you if you choose not to take part. You can also withdraw your consent to participate at any time without having to give reasons and without any negative consequences for you in the future. Your participation will contribute to the success of this important scientific investigation, and we sincerely hope you will choose to take part!
Handling of your data in accordance with data protection regulations:
The following principles apply to the handling of your personal data and the information you provided during the interview:
- The data collected during the interview (your answers) will be stored separately from your name and contact details using a pseudonym (code number) that will also be used for repeat surveys.
- infas then transmits the pseudonymized survey results without any of your contact information (name or address) to DIW Berlin. DIW Berlin uses the data in its own research. All evaluations and analyses of the data are carried out without any reference to your name and address, and the information obtained is transmitted solely in anonymized form. and the information obtained is transmitted solely in anonymized form.
- DIW Berlin has commissioned infas to conduct the surveys for the “Living in Germany” study in the coming years. Kantar – Public Division has therefore transferred your contact information to infas. infas will keep your contact information on file with the sole purpose of being able to contact you again and interview you at a later date as part of this survey. In the event that DIW Berlin conducts the survey without infas in the future, we will transfer the contact information separately from the survey data, either to the institute that has been commissioned to continue conducting the survey or to DIW Berlin, which will then store your contact information separately from the survey data. When the SOEP’s funding ends, your contact data will be deleted permanently.
Your rights to information:
You may assert the following rights at any time against the institutions involved in the study “Living in Germany”:
- Right of the data subject to information about what data are being processed, GDPR, article 15
- Right to rectification of data, GDPR, article 16
- Right to erasure of data (“right to be forgotten”), GDPR, article 17
- Right to restriction of processing, GDPR, article 18
- Right to data portability, GDPR, article 20
In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority pursuant to GDPR, article 77. You can lodge your complaint with the supervisory authority in the state where you live or work, as well as with the supervisory authority responsible for the controller in the respective state. We would be happy to provide you the data protection agreements between the institutes involved upon request.