This book addresses a broad array of pressing challenges of longitudinal surveys and provides innovative solutions to methodological problems based on the example of the NEPS. It covers longitudinal issues such as sampling, weighting, recruiting and fieldwork management, the design of longitudinal surveys and the implementation of constructs, conducting competence tests over the life course, effective methods to improve and to maintain the highest level of data quality, data management tools for large-scale longitudinal surveys, the dissemination of research data to heterogeneous scientific communities, as well as establishing a long-term public relations and communications unit integrating a study¿s stakeholder community over time.

Hans-Peter Blossfeld is on leave from his Chair in Sociology at Bamberg University since 2012 and holds a Chair in Sociology at the European University Institute in Florence.   

Jutta von Maurice is the executive director of research of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories at the University of Bamberg.

Jan Skopek is senior research scientist at the Comparative Life Course & Inequality Research Center of the European University Institute in Florence and is conducting cross-national comparisons in the eduLIFE project, which is supported by an advanced grant from the ERC. 

Sampling, Recruiting and Fieldwork Management.- Longitudinal Measurement of Educational Processes: Surveys and Constructs.- Longitudinal Measurement of Skills: Competence Testing.- Assessing Data Quality.- Data Management, Coding, Dissemination and User Support.