The German Internet Panel (GIP) is an infrastructure project. The GIP serves to collect data about individual attitudes and preferences which are relevant for political and economic decision-making processes.

The questionnaire contains numerous experimental variations in the survey instruments. For further information, please refer to the study documentation.

Topics: Verification of first name, surname, sex and year of birth and, if necessary, correction of the information stored in the database; verification of mobile phone number and landline number and, if necessary correction of the information; German citizenship; marital status; number of household members (household size); age and sex of these persons and their relationship to the respondent; principal residence; highest educational degree; highest professional qualification; occupational situation (full-time employment, part-time employment, partial retirement, minijob, one-euro job, irregular employment, vocational training, occupational retraining, federal volunteer service, gab year, parental leave, pupil, student, pensioner, unemployed, permanently unable to work, housewife/househusband); main employment status; previous employment status; current or previous occupational status (employed, self-employed or assisting family member); time limit of employment contract; (last) employment in the public service; economic sector of (last) employment; religion; self-assessment of religiousness; frequency of use of computers outside the study; frequency of Internet usage for private purposes; frequency of daily internet usage; satisfaction with selected areas of life (family life, leisure time, financial situation, work); social activity: Membership (active, passive) in various organisations and associations (sports, music or cultural association, human rights, environmental or animal protection association, charity or aid organisation, religious or church organisation, youth, parents or senior citizens´ association, citizens´ initiative, professional association, trade union, political party, other (open)); Left-right self-placement; left-right placement of the parties CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Bündnis90/ Die Grünen, Die Linke and AfD; party affiliation and party identification; self-characterisation (Big Five): reserved, trusting, lazy, relaxed, few artistic interest, sociable, find fault with others, thorough, nervous and insecure, active imagination); financial situation: personal net income (categories); number of persons contributing to household income; respondent contributes to household income; net household income; voting behaviour in the last federal election (second vote).

Demography: sex; age (year of birth, categorized); highest educational degree; highest professional qualification; marital status; household size; employment status; German citizenship; frequency of private Internet usage; federal state.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; household ID, GIP; person ID (within household); year of recruitment (2012, 2014); interview date; current online status.

Questionnaire evaluation (interesting, varied, relevant, long, difficult, too personal); overall evaluation of the survey; respondent made further comments on the questionnaire.