In close contact with FReDA

A highly informative introduction to scientific work with panel data, a wealth of background information on FReDA and the GGS, practical analyses and independent hands-on sessions – this year's FReDA Autumn School once again offered all participants an excellent opportunity to get to know ‘FReDA – The Family Demographic Panel’ in detail. Around 20 researchers – from universities and colleges throughout Germany, but also from Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Turkey, the USA and Poland – attended the three-day workshop, which FReDA offered in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Public Policy Research Centre (IPP) at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz from 10 to 12 October 2025.

The field of participants was interdisciplinary: FReDA's data is equally exciting for researchers from the disciplines of sociology, economics, psychology, political science and public health. In this context, the workshop also provided an opportunity for interdisciplinary networking. Participants included doctoral students, postdocs and master's students.

Fundamental questions were discussed, such as ‘Which research questions can be answered with FReDA?’, ‘What types of analyses are possible with the FReDA design?’, ‘How does the data from this panel differ from data from other samples?’ and ‘How (un)complicated is it to work with the data files in practice?’. Presentations by researchers from the FReDA team and lecturers from the University of Mainz provided exciting input, which was then explored in greater depth in the subsequent discussion rounds. The workshop also gave participants ample opportunity to work with the data sets themselves and to clarify any questions that arose directly. It also became clear just how extensive the analysis options offered by FReDA are.

The programme for the FReDA / GGS Autumn School 2025 can be found here.

FReDA is available to researchers free of charge

FReDA is an interdisciplinary long-term study on families and partnerships in Germany, which surveys people aged between 18 and 53 twice a year. The sample data is available to the scientific community free of charge for scientific and non-commercial purposes. Further information can be found on our FReDA Data Portal – and, of course, on the FReDA Website.

The GGS is a survey on life course and family dynamics in different countries. It surveys people aged 18 to 79 and conducts follow-up surveys every three and six years to track developments in people's lives. Further information can be found here.

If you have any questions, please contact us at freda@bib.bund.de.