Generations and Gender Survey France Wave 1, Wave 2 & Wave 3

Method: Face-to-Face (personal interview) Technique: Computer-Assisted (CAPI)

WAVE 1 ACTIONS

1. Dealing with nonresponse 1.1 Screening: No 1.2 Refusal conversion: Usual techniques of refusal conversion i.e. specify that personal information will stay confidential and not divulged to a third party, insisting on the research purpose of the survey and on its international dimension. 1.3 Incentives: No

2. Tracking of sampled units 2.1 Respondent contact information: Respondent's address and telephone number (home, mobile, work) were collected. 2.2 Other contact information: The interviewers were instructed to ask for the addresses of two persons in the respondent's circle of acquaintances (close family, friends) to remain able of resuming contact with the respondent via one of these persons in case of a move. 2.3 Cards: Various strategies were organized to keep in touch with a maximum number of persons. A thank you letter was sent to all the respondents, which varied in content according to 3 scenarios:

   • if the respondent had refused the follow-up, he was thanked simply;
   • if he/she had accepted the follow-up and given the address of at least one contact person, he was thanked by enclosing a "change of address card" as well as an e-mail and a phone number so that he can inform INED of any moves;
   • if he/she had accepted the follow-up but if we had no contact person, he was thanked the same way as in the previous case and we added to the letter a " contact person card" and a prepaid envelope. Four other mails were sent to every respondent between Wave1 and Wave 2 (three mails with first results of the survey and a greetings card) .The aim of these regular mailshots is to keep in touch but also to update the address file (death, change of address...). 2.4 Additional surveys: None. 2.5 Administrative records: No.

WAVE 2 ACTIONS

1. Dealing with nonresponse 1.1 Screening: No 1.2 Refusal conversion: As for Wave 1. 1.3 Incentives: No

2. Tracking of sampled units 2.1 Respondent contact information: Update of respondent's address and telephone number. 2.2 Other contact information: Record of respondent's circle of acquaintances addresses. In case no address was available, the 2005 addresses were reused. 2.3 Cards: The respondents who agreed to participate to Wave 1 were contacted by mail five times between the two waves, i.e., approximately every six months (see above documentation about wave 1). The respondents who had agreed to participate to Wave 1 were contacted by mail five times between the two waves, i.e., approximately every six months (see above documentation about wave 1). The same basic follow-up procedure was used with the respondents between Wave 2 and Wave 3 (two letters each year: initial results and a New Year greetings card, etc.). 2.4 Additional surveys: None. 2.5 Administrative records: No.

WAVE 3 ACTIONS

1. Dealing with nonresponse 1.1 Screening: No 1.2 Refusal conversion: As for Wave 1. 1.3 Incentives: No

2. Tracking of sampled units 2.1 Respondent contact information: No 2.2 Other contact information: No 2.3 Cards: The respondents were sent a thank you letter at the end of the data collection. 2.4 Additional surveys: None. 2.5 Administrative records: No.

WAVE 1 DATA COLLECTION

1. Interviewers 1.1 Total number of interviewers: 552 interviewers of INSEE (data collector) 1.2 Number of interviewers in the field: Each interviewer had a fixed number of interviews to carry out. Some of them can finish the work earlier than others. 1.3 Network organization: At least two field coordinators in each of the 22 regional agencies of INSEE (data collector). 1.4 Working arrangement of interviewers: Fully employed survey administrators from INSEE. 1.5 Payment of interviewers: Paid per interview (completed interview: one hour paid, refusal: fixed compensation) + compensation for one day of training + travel expenses.

2. Interviewer training: 2.1 General interviewing: Interviewers were already trained in general interviewing techniques: CAPI, interviewing techniques, appointments taking and general knowledge on surveys carried out by INSEE. 2.2 Survey specific: In august 2005, professional regional trainers of INSEE were trained centrally at INED in GGS specific issues and then trained the 560 interviewers in each of the 22 French regions. 2.3 Length: General training: 6 days. Survey specific: 1 day. 2.4 Control of performance: The new interviewers were accompanied by the regional survey manager for their first interviews. Some of the experienced ones were accompanied too as part as their annual performance review. 2.5 Interviewer survey: None.

3. Contact protocols 3.1 Advance letter: Each household selected in the sample received an advanced letter with a leaflet introducing the survey and announcing the coming of an interviewer, the reason of his/her visit, the survey subject, the agencies involved in the survey, the future use of the data, etc. The household was also invited to visit the survey website (www-erfi.ined.fr) to find more information about the survey and the project. 3.2 Cold contacts: Face-to-Face 3.3 Scheduling / scattering: Yes. To get the highest response rate, contacts attempts were scattered over different days of the week and different parts of the day. 3.4 Contact history: Yes. For each contact attempt, the interviewer had to report the date, the time and the outcome in a grid. 3.5 Min number of contacts: 7. 3.6 Max number of contacts: 14.

4. Questionnaire localization 4.1 Validation: In March 2004, a test of the first version of the questionnaire was carried out by interviewing 111 persons (face to face paper) to improve the translation and evaluate the length of the interviewing. 4.2 Pre-test: Two pre-tests carried out using CAPI version of the questionnaire in November 2004 (134 respondents) and April 2005 (180 respondents). 4.3 Length of interview: Respondents were globally very cooperative. The average duration of interview was about 65 minutes, with a large variance according to the composition of the household and the complexity of the family structure and history of the respondent. A quarter of the interviews took place in the presence of another person. Some difficulties were encountered by respondents to answer fecundity questions. Two questions (religion appartenance and civil partnership) were considered as "sensitive" according to the French law and needed a signed authorization from the respondent. 6% of the respondents refused that their answers to both "sensitive" questions were recorded.

WAVE 2 DATA COLLECTION

1. Interviewers 1.1 Total number of interviewers: 454 interviewers of INSEE (data collector), mainly those who took part in the previous wave. 1.2 Number of interviewers in the field: Each interviewer had a fixed number of interviews to carry out. Some of them could finish the work earlier than others. 1.3 Network organization: At least two field coordinators in each of the 22 regional agencies of INSEE (data collector). 1.4 Working arrangement of interviewers: Fully employed survey administrators from INSEE. 1.5 Payment of interviewers: Paid per interview (completed interview: one hour paid, refusal: fixed compensation) + compensation for one day of training + travel expenses.

2. Interviewer training: 2.1 General interviewing: Interviewers were already trained in general interviewing techniques: CAPI, interviewing techniques, appointments taking and general knowledge on surveys carried out by INSEE. 2.2 Survey specific: In September 2008, professional regional trainers of INSEE were trained centrally at INED in GGS specific issues and then trained the 454 interviewers in each of the 22 French regions. 2.3 Length: General training: 6 days. Survey specific: 1 day. 2.4 Control of performance: The new interviewers were accompanied by the regional survey manager for their first interviews. Some of the experienced ones were accompanied too as part of their annual performance review. 2.5 Interviewer survey: None

3. Contact protocols 3.1 Advance letter: Each household which agreed to participate to Wave 2 received an advanced letter recalling the survey subject and announcing the coming of an interviewer, the reason of his/her visit, the agencies involved in the survey, etc. The household was also sent a brochure concerning the survey and the invitation to visit its website. 3.2 Cold contacts: Face-to-Face 3.3 Scheduling / scattering: If 2005 respondents were no longer present in the household, the interviewer made an appointment to meet them, and if they had moved to another zone, another interviewer was given the new address. When 2005 respondents had gone to live outside the regions covered by the survey (but within metropolitan France), the interviewers went beyond their usually allotted zone to meet them. 3.4 Contact history: Yes. For each contact attempt, the interviewer had to report the date, the time and the outcome in a grid. 3.5 Min number of contacts: Dk 3.6 Max number of contacts: DK

4. Questionnaire localization 4.1 Validation: No. 4.2 Pre-test: Two pre-test were carried out. The first was limited on the new module on occupational history introduced with Wave 2. It was carried out in november 2006 using Paper and Pencil on 20 persons of all ages. This test showed recall problems for older persons and persons with numerous occupational changes. There were also problems of data overlap which were then overcome thanks to CAPI automation. The second test was carried on the entire questionnaire from March 24 to April 25, 2008, in two different parts of France (Aquitaine and Limousin) on 180 persons. The test could not be run on people who had participated 3 years previously. In order to check “the retrieval chain of data collected in 2005” (i.e., the filter questions in Wave 2 aimed at saving time) the test questionnaire was preceded by a short module focusing on the respondents’ situation 3 years previously. 4.3 Length of interview: The average duration of interview was about 55 minutes, with a large variance depending on the complexity of the respondents’ occupational history and hence their age. A third party was present in 25% of the 2005 interviews, whereas this percentage dropped to 18% in the 2008 interviews. The interviews went very well on the whole. This is confirmed by the fact that 97% of respondents agreed to participate to Wave 3. The main problems concerned the occupational history grid, which turned to be not so easy to complete especially for older respondents. As to the items considered “sensitive” by the Quality Label Committee of the French National Council for Statistical Information (CNIS) at Wave 1, the question about religion membership was no longer asked; the other one on civil partnership was not regarded as sensitive anymore.

WAVE 3 DATA COLLECTION

1. Interviewers 1.1 Total number of interviewers: 422 interviewers of INSEE (data collector), mainly those who took part in the previous waves 1.2 Number of interviewers in the field: Each interviewer had a fixed number of interviews to carry out. Some of them could finish the work earlier than others. 1.3 Network organization: At least two field coordinators in each of the 22 regional agencies of INSEE (data collector). 1.4 Working arrangement of interviewers: Fully employed survey administrators from INSEE. 1.5 Payment of interviewers: Paid per interview (completed interview: one hour paid, refusal: fixed compensation) + compensation for one day of training + travel expenses.

2. Interviewer training: 2.1 General interviewing: Interviewers were already trained in general interviewing techniques: CAPI, interviewing techniques, appointments taking and general knowledge on surveys carried out by INSEE. 2.2 Survey specific: In September 2011, professional regional trainers of INSEE were trained centrally at INED in GGS specific issues (2nd, 6th and 7th of september) and then trained the 422 interviewers in each of the 22 French regions. 2.3 Length: General training: 6 days. Survey specific: 1 day. 2.4 Control of performance: The new interviewers were accompanied by the regional survey manager for their first interviews. Some of the experienced ones were accompanied too as part of their annual performance review. 2.5 Interviewer survey: None

3. Contact protocols 3.1 Advance letter: Each household which took part in Wave 2 and agreed to participate to Wave 3 received an advanced letter recalling the survey subject and announcing the coming of an interviewer, the reason of his/her visit, the agencies involved in the survey, etc. Each household who took part in Wave 1, agreed to be re-contacted in Wave 2 but they did not take part were sent a letter announcing the thrid Wave and given the possibility to refuse to take part in Wave 3. Each household was also sent a brochure concerning the survey and the invitation to visit its website. 3.2 Cold contacts: Face-to-Face 3.3 Scheduling / scattering: If 2005/2008 respondents were no longer present in the household, the interviewer made an appointment to meet them, and if they had moved to another zone, another interviewer was given the new address. When 2005/2008 respondents had gone to live outside the regions covered by the survey (but within metropolitan France), the interviewers went beyond their usually allotted zone to meet them. 3.4 Contact history: Yes. For each contact attempt, the interviewer had to report the date, the time and the outcome in a grid. 3.5 Min number of contacts: Dk 3.6 Max number of contacts: DK

4. Questionnaire localization 4.1 Validation: No. 4.2 Pre-test: One pre-test was carried out on the entire questionnaire from April 7, 2011 to May 13, in two different parts of France (Rouen and Reims) on 195 persons. The test could not be run on people who had participated 3 years previously. In order to check “the retrieval chain of data collected in 2008 (or 2005 for people who did not take part in Wave 2)” (i.e., the filter questions in previous wave aimed at saving time) the test questionnaire was preceded by a short module focusing on the respondents’ situation 3 years (or 6 years for persons who did not take part in the second Wave) before. 4.3 Length of interview: The average duration of interview was about 51 minutes, with a large variance depending on the complexity of the respondents’ occupational history and hence their age. A third party was present in 17% of the 2011 interviews. The interviews went very well on the whole. As for the previous waves, the "values and attitudes" part is not always easy to answer (some respondents find it difficult to position themselves "it depends..."); the "fertility intentions" part is poorly adapted to older people who no longer want children; the new part describing all grandchildren is sometimes difficult and time-consuming to complete for older people. Finally, as in wave 2, we suspect that there are a few "false" panel respondents.