In the following, PIAAC related projects will be introduced aiming at the continuation, further advancement and dissemination of PIAAC. Additionally National Supplement Studies are presented (see CiLL and Prime Age).
Project staff at GESIS: Prof. Dr. Beatrice Rammstedt (Management), Dr. Débora B. Maehler (Coordination), Britta Gauly, Natascha Massing & Anja Perry
Project duration: 01.02.2015 - 31.12.2018
Funded by: Leibniz Association
Data: Research Data Center PIAAC
The interdisciplinary association of researchers working with PIAAC data aims at evaluating PIAAC measurements by locating them in the context of other measures of competence and basic cognitive skills and at testing new and alternative measures. New data are obtained using the German PIAAC longitudinal Study (PIAAC-L). Additionally, the acquisition and use of competencies is analyzed in more detail, e.g., by linking the data with administrative employment data. Furthermore, data and results will be distributed into the scientific community by a profound provision of data, by workshops on analyzing PIAAC data and by an international conference on PIAAC and PIAAC longitudinal. Knowledge transfer into politics and practice will be addressed by developing and evaluating different information formats. Core objectives of the network are:
Eight German Leibniz Institutions are collaborating in a network aiming at analyzing, further advancing and disseminating PIAAC:
External partners:
Contact: Dr. Débora B. Maehler (debora.maehler(at)gesis(dot)org)
Project staff at GESIS: Prof. Dr. Beatrice Rammstedt (Management), Silke Martin & Anouk Zabal
Project duration: 01.07.2013 – 31.01.2018
Funded by: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Data: Research Data Center PIAAC
The Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences (GESIS), the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi), and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) conducted one of the world’s first internationally comparable long-term studies on competencies in adults and their significance over the life course. How do individual competencies impact on the employment careers of people living in Germany? How are personal abilities interrelated with occupational mobility? How are competencies distributed between individual families and between partners? And what does this mean for chances of upward mobility in our society? These and similar questions were examined by the nationwide long-term study PIAAC-L (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies), for which funding was approved by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF). In PIAAC-L the German PIAAC sample was followed over three more waves (2014, 2015, 2016).
Further information on the study can be found here:
Martin, S., Zabal, A. & Rammstedt, B. (2018). PIAAC-L Data Collection 2016: Technical Report. GESIS Papers 2018|05. Köln: GESIS.
Zabal, A., Martin, S. & Rammstedt, B. (2017). PIAAC-L Data Collection 2015: Technical Report. GESIS Papers 2017|29. Köln: GESIS.
Rammstedt, B., Martin, S., Zabal, A., Carstensen, C. & Schupp, J. (2017). The PIAAC Longitudinal Study in Germany – Rationale and Design. Large-scale Assessments in Education, 5 (4). doi: 10.1186/s40536-017-0040-z
Zabal, A., Martin, S. & Rammstedt, B. (2016). PIAAC-L Data Collection 2014: Technical Report: Follow-Up to PIAAC Germany 2012. GESIS Papers 2016|17. Köln: GESIS.
Contact: Anouk Zabal (anouk.zabal(at)gesis(dot)org)
Project staff at GESIS: Prof. Dr. Beatrice Rammstedt (Management) & Britta Gauly
Project duration: 01.09.2014 – 31.08.2017
Funded by: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Data: Research Data Center PIAAC
Through the evaluation of Reading Components data, acquired through the PIAAC and CiLL studies, information about the lowest reading competency level in Germany should be attained. The data are discussed in the context of the greater state of the research, at national and international levels, and compared with results from other countries. Furthermore, the analysis of latent-class subgroups is made possible through the use of statistical methods. The results are being discussed in policy workshops, presented at conferences, and published in journals and other online sources.
Further information on the study can be found here:
Gauly, B., Perry, A., & Rammstedt, B. (2016). Lebensumstände von Personen mit niedrigeren Lesekompetenzen. Analyse der grundlegenden Lesekomponenten aus PIAAC (Heft 1). Köln: GESIS. or at http://blogs.epb.uni-hamburg.de/rc/
Contact: Britta Gauly (britta.gauly(at)gesis(dot)org)
Project staff at GESIS: Prof. Dr. Beatrice Rammstedt (Management), Dr. Reiner Mauer, Christian Prinz & Anouk Zabal
Project duration: 01.07.2015 – 30.08.2017
Funded by: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Data: Research Data Center PIAAC
The PIAAC 2012 study was the first fully computer-based large scale assessment in education. During the assessment, user interactions were logged automatically. This means that most of the users’ actions within the assessment tool were recorded and stored with time stamps in separate files called log files. The log files contain paradata for each participant in one or two of the following competence domains: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. The availability of these log files offers new opportunities to researchers, for instance to reproduce test-taking behavior of individuals and to better understand test-taking behavior.
Further information on the study can be found here: https://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/data/piaaclogfiles/.
Contact: FDZ PIAAC (fdz-piaac(at)gesis(dot)org)
Project staff at GESIS: Prof. Dr. Beatrice Rammstedt (Management), Dr. Daniel Danner (Management) & Dr. Clemens Lechner
Project duration: 01.02.2016 – 15.02.2019
Funded by: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Our aim is to prepare a concept for the description of non-monetary return on education for the education report of the federal government on the basis of theoretical and empirical approaches. The subproject „Personality and education effects“ examines to what extent education variables predict personality changes in childhood and adolescence and whether these effects are independent of the students’ cognitive competences or whether the cognitive competences have an effect on personality beyond the influence of education. Furthermore the subproject investigates whether adults’ level of competence and (previous) participation in education determines personality pattern and changes. Additionally, interaction effects of personality and competences on outcome variables (e.g. life satisfaction) will be examined. The central data sources are the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and especially the additional national longitudinal study PIAAC-L.
Contact: Dr. Clemens Lechner (clemens.lechner(at)gesis(dot)org)
Project staff at GESIS: Dr. Daniel Danner (Management), Prof. Dr. Beatrice Rammstedt (Management), Melanie Partsch
Project duration: 01.08.2016 – 30.10.2016
Funded by: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Data: Research Data Center PIAAC
In this project we are analyzing the psychometric properties of a module of non-cognitive skill scales to be assessed in international large-scale surveys. The aim of the project is to investigate the measurement invariance, reliability, and validity of these scales across a set of different countries and languages (English, German, Polish, French, Spanish, and Japanese). The following questions will guide the analyses of the data of this second pilot: Are non-cognitive skill scales measurement invariant across the investigated countries? How reliable are the scales in the investigated countries? How are the scales associated with other personality constructs? To what extent can the non-cognitive skills scales incrementally predict outcome variables?
Further information on the study can be found here:
Kankaraš, M. (2017). Personality matters. OECD Education Working Papers No. 157. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Beatrice Rammstedt (beatrice.rammstedt(at)gesis(dot)org)
Project staff: Prof. Dr. D. Gnahs (DIE) & Dr. Jens Friebe (DIE); Prof. Dr. R. Tippelt (LMU) & PD. Dr. B. Schmidt-Hertha (LUM)
Project duration: 01.12.2009 – 30.06.2014
Funded by: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Data: Research Data Center PIAAC
Since December 2009, the German Institute for Adult Education (DIE) and the Institute of Education at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) have been conducting a national project supplementary to PIAAC on behalf of the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The project enables the PIAAC sample to be expanded to include adults between the ages of 66 and 80. While the initial life span of the project is two years, there is a prospect that it will be continued for the entire term of PIAAC. The project will support the expansion of the samples and their interpretation by scientifically analysing the subsample and conducting case studies of its own. It will yield socio-demographic data about older population groups and important information about their competency profiles.
In the context of an ageing society, this information is of interest for several reasons: it provides an insight into the education potential of older people that can help them to retain their independence, participate in the working world, do voluntary work, and support other family members. Hence, the expected project results can effectively contribute to improving education programmes and support structures for older people. Professor Dr Gnahs is a member of the PIAAC team of national experts. Information about his academic and professional background and his main research interests can be found under the navigation item Experts.
Further information on the study can be found here:
Schmidt-Hertha, B. & Knauber, C. (2015). Wie gewinnt man ältere Menschen für eine Weiterbildung? Ableitungen aus der Studie Competencies in Later Life (CiLL). Der pädagogische Blick, 23(4), 229-240.
Schmidt-Hertha,B., Friebe,J. & Gebrande, J. (2014). Competencies in later life. In European Lifelong Learning Magazine, 1/2014. Available at https://www.elmmagazine.eu/articles/competencies-in-later-life/
Knauber, C. & Weiß, C. (2014). Alltagsmathematische Kompetenz. In J. Friebe, B. Schmidt-Hertha & R. Tippelt (Hrsg.), Kompetenzen im höheren Lebensalter. Ergebnisse der Studie „Competencies in Later Life“ (CiLL) (S. 81-98). Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann.
Friebe, J., Knauber, C., Weiß, C. & Setzer, B. (2014). Alltagskompetenzen und Lernprozesse im höheren Lebensalter. Ergebnisse und Perspektiven der PIAAC Erweiterungsstudie "Competencies in Later Life". Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie, 47 (7), 563-569.
Gebrande, J., Knauber, C. & Weiß, C. (2014). Kompetenzen Älterer. Zwischenbilanz und Perspektiven ausgewählter Ergebnisse der Studie Competencies in Later Life (CiLL). REPORT – Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung, 37 (3), 50-67.
Gebrande, J., Knauber, C. & Weiß, C. (2014). Methodisches Vorgehen und Datenanalyse. In J. Friebe, B. Schmidt-Hertha & R. Tippelt (Hrsg.), Kompetenzen im höheren Lebensalter. Ergebnisse der Studie „Competencies in Later Life“ (CiLL) (S. 37-54). Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann.
Friebe, J., & Schmidt-Hertha, B. (2013). Activities and barriers to education for elderly people. Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies, 64 (1), 10-26.
Contact: here
Projektmitarbeitende: Prof. Dr. Heike Solga (Leitung), Dr. Jan Heisig
Projektlaufzeit: 01.12.2009 – 30.06.2014
Project staff: Prof. Dr. Heike Solga (Management), Dr. Jan Heisig
Project duration: 01.12.2009 – 30.06.2014
Funded by: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Data: Research Data Center PIAAC
The employment prospects of low-skilled persons have deteriorated dramatically in all industrial countries in recent decades. The close relationship between low education and poor life-chances has therefore become manifest. The aim of the project is to determine the causes of the meagre employment prospects of adults who have neither completed vocational training nor obtained a university degree. It will investigate the importance of competencies, (school-leaving) certificates, networks, and institutional and economic factors such as the ratio between the supply of and demand for labour. The analyses will cover persons between the ages of 26 and 55, i.e. an age group that is in the active employment phase and has usually already completed vocational training. The analyses will be conducted using the German PIAAC (2011) and IALS (1994) samples.
Further information on the study can be found here:
Heisig, J. P. & Solga, H. (2014). Kompetenzen, Arbeitsmarkt- und Weiterbildungschancen von gering Qualifizierten in Deutschland. Befunde aus PIAAC. In Projektträger im Deutschen Zentrum für Luft-/Raumfahrt (Hg.): Kompetenzen von gering Qualifizierten (p.11-31). Befunde und Konzepte. Alphabetisierung und Grundbildung Erwachsener. Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Heike Solga (heike.solga(at)wzb(dot)eu)
