From the Idea to the Questionnaire

How do you feel about a legal right to work from home? What’s your personal opinion on Germany’s pension system? Questions like these were posed to 3,500 randomly selected individuals across the country in the most recent survey waves of the German Internet Panel (GIP). With just a few clicks, participants can submit their responses online. The GIP has been surveying its panel members every two months since 2012—making it the longest-running online study in Germany based on a random sample. The panel investigates individual attitudes and preferences that are relevant to political and economic decision-making.

“We run surveys six times a year—in every odd-numbered month—and always with the same group of participants, though the topics vary widely,” explains Tobias Rettig, who leads the GIP team. Rettig joined the University of Mannheim and the GIP project in 2018, back when it was still affiliated with, and exclusively served, Collaborative Research Center 884. Today, the GIP is part of the university library’s infrastructure and is available to all departments of the university for survey-based research. External researchers are also welcome to submit their own questions to the panel.

The GIP team supports researchers every step of the way, from their initial ideas to the finalized questionnaire.  “It typically takes three to four months to fully program, test, and revise a questionnaire,” Rettig explains. His survey team oversees the entire process—from development to data publication—to ensure the highest quality standards are met.

Each questionnaire is available for the entire month and takes about 20 minutes to complete. All GIP participants were recruited offline based on a random sample of the general population in Germany aged between 16 and 75. One of the panel’s most distinctive features is its longevity. “Since 2012, we’ve been offering researchers a unique opportunity to collect their own citable data—data that meets the highest scientific standards,” says Rettig. “We’ve built an enormous data archive over the years, much of which is now publicly accessible for future research.”

Text: Jule Leger / August 2025