Please circulate the following call, thanks Christof Wolf

* ISA-RC33 7th International Conference in Naples, September 1-5, 2008 *

Call for Papers for a Session on * Comparative Analysis of European Microdata from Official Statistics *

Chairs of the session: Christof Wolf & Heike Wirth, GESIS-ZUMA, Mannheim, Germany

The session focuses on microdata provided by either national statistical agencies in Europe or Eurostat, such as the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), the European Study on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), the European Structure of Earning Survey (EU-SES) or Time Use Surveys in Europe (see HETUS project). These data sets are the EU reference sources regarding employment, income, social exclusion, earning and time use. Even though most of these data are yet not easily accessible for researchers, this might change in the future. The data offer several advantages for social-structural analysis: Non-response is typically low and sample sizes are usually very large making the analysis of even small subgroups viable. With the increasing focus on (as well as need of) international comparative research, more and more EU researchers interested in social-structural analysis will turn their attention to these data. However since the use of official microdata is rather new ground and the data are directly or indirectly influenced by EU-regulations, there is a need not only to discuss substantive but also methodological questions.

Presentations focusing on methodological as well as on substantive issues are welcome. Among the former are questions of data quality, cross-national and inter-temporal comparability, and statistical modeling. Presentations must be comparative and include data from at least three countries.

SUBMISSIONS: Send your submissions to the Chairs of the Session: Christof Wolf (Christof.Wolf@gesis.org) and Heike Wirth (Heike.Wirth@gesis.org) before February 17, 2008.

IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract submission: February 17, 2008 Notification of acceptance: Latest by the end of March 2008

For further details about the conference refer to the conference homepage: http://www.rc332008.unina.it/