About Us

The German Internet Panel (GIP) is the central infrastructure project of the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 884 “Political Economy of Reforms” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The long-term study collects survey data on individual attitudes and preferences relevant to political and economic decision-making processes. These data form the empirical foundation of the scientific research by the SFB projects. The GIP study was set up and directed by Prof. Dr. Blom, Professor for Data Science at the School of Social Sciences, starting in 2012 and has been conducted by a team of researchers since February 2022.

The topics covered by the GIP are diverse and include attitudes towards political reforms, the welfare state, German and EU politics, health, social inequality, education, and employment, as well as key socio-demographic information. The questionnaire modules are developed by SFB researchers in cooperation with the GIP team.

The GIP was first fielded in 2012 and has since been conducted online every other month. The GIP participants were recruited by means of a random probability sample of the general population of Germany and offline recruitment. More than 4,000 people from all over Germany regularly take part in the online surveys. To ensure an accurate representation of the general population, the GIP applies and develops cutting-edge scientific methods. As part of the Open Science movement, the GIP makes all survey data available to the scientific community as Scientific Use Files.