LIVES Data collections

Standardised interviews - Telephone interview (CATI, etc.) and self-administered writings and/or diaries

The principal aim of the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) is to observe social change, in particular the dynamics of changing living conditions and representations in the population of Switzerland. Covering a broad range of topics and approaches in the social sciences, SHP is a yearly panel with rotating modules following three random samples of private households in Switzerland over time, interviewing all household members, mainly by telephone.
The LIVES FORS Cohort Survey can be essentially seen as an SHP additional sample. The waves of SHP and the LIVES FORS Cohort Survey run in parallel and share most of the questions and modules. On the other hand the LIVES FORS Cohort Survey is distinguished from SHP by a specific reference population and sampling procedure. In addition, only the targeted member of the household has to respond to the individual questionnaire (and not all members as in SHP).

Data type
Primary, quantitative data - Longitudinal

Collected variables
Life History Calendar and Network

Periodicity of data collection
Yearly

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 13144
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/13144/17008/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
Ref dataset: 937 (6.0.0)
LIVES FORS Cohort Survey Waves 1-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-937-6
Open access with FORS account

Standardised interviews

The principal aim of the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) is to observe social change, in particular the dynamics of changing living conditions and representations in the population of Switzerland. Covering a broad range of topics and approaches in the social sciences, SHP is a yearly panel with rotating modules following three random samples of private households in Switzerland over time, interviewing all household members, mainly by telephone.
SHP Vaud can be essentially seen as an SHP oversample. Indeed, as the different waves of the SHP and the SHP Vaud run in parallel, both surveys share the same questions and modules.
That said, SHP VAUD is distinguished from SHP by a specific reference population. First, people and household coming exclusively from the canton of Vaud. Second, facing a data lack about low income housholds and poverty trajectories, the Department of Health and Social Services of the canton of Vaud, decided to overrepresent low income households in the additionnel cantonal sample. In addition, a small set of SHP Vaud questions are different, comparing to the SHP; some were added, some other were slightly modified to better comply to the specific lived experience of the studied population.

Data type
Primary, quantitative data - Longitudinal

Collected variables
Living conditions, poverty, life calendar, social participation, political behaviour and values.

Periodicity of data collection
Yearly

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 12273
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/12273/13258/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
FORSbase Ref dataset: 936 (3.1.0)
Wave 1-6,
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-936-4
Open access with FORS account

Standardised interviews

The general aim of LOLYS is to assess experiences of vulnerability (e.g., stress, discrimination) and regulation strategies (e.g., identity, social support, collective action) of young adults aged 15 to 30 living in French-speaking Switzerland. Generally, the survey aspires to provide an account of the regulatory strategies likely to decrease or to increase vulnerability among adolescents and young adults aged 16 to 30.
Wave 5 and 6 : Extension and replication of LOLYS in CEPM (Centre d’enseignement professionnel Morges)

Data type
Primary, quantitative data - Longitudinal

Collected variables
Identity self-definition strategies, schoolwork engagement and burnout, experiences of vulnerability, difficulties and preoccupations, experiences of discrimination and  injustice, coping strategies, social support, self-esteem, life satisfaction, social well-being, origin identification, social identification, attitudes towards social change, ideological beliefs held about the society, mid and long-term projects, and socio-demographic information.

Periodicity of data collection
Yearly. 1 pilot, 4 waves and 2 complementary data collections

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 12411
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/12411/13582/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
NCCR LIVES - Longitudinal Lausanne Youth Study (LOLYS), Wave 1: Ref dataset: 696
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-696-2
Open access with FORS account

Standardised interviews - by mail

The loss of an intimate partner in the second half of life is a major challenge and a critical life event. Even if, for most individuals, a critical life event is stressful and psychologically and socially destabilizing, the ways of coping with it and the long-term outcomes (ranging from increased vulnerability to stabilization and growth) are very different. Whether or not this critical life event turns out to be a chronic stressor depends on the individual’s personal and social resources. Based on recent research, we propose a complementary and extended view of the crisis and chronic stress models of adjustment to critical life events (Amato, 2000) Lorenz et al., 2006). In fact, turning point experiences bear the potential for new chances, the awakening of a person’s potential, overcoming the crisis and contributing to personal growth. For others, however, the same turning point is not only a crisis, but can also mean the onset of chronic disadvantage and stress with the threat of loss of control and increased physical, psychological and social vulnerability. What we also know from life-span and differential psychology is that there is a considerable continuity in psychological well-being over the life-span, independent of adversities and losses (Perrig-Chiello, Jäggi, Buschkühl, Stähelin, & Perrig, 2009).
Based on these insights, the rationale of our project is a transactional model of personality, which claims that individuals try to cope with negative life events (turning points) by activating their available personal and external resources. This view postulates that individuals – based on their biographical experience (e.g., attachment style, past experiences with silent and age-normed transitions, quality of relationship with partner/spouse) and on their actual physical, psychological (e.g., personality; control beliefs; self-esteem; and personal, familial and cultural values) and social resources (e.g., having children, relatives, friends to rely upon) – develop strategies, which allow them to adapt their life perspectives in order to bring continuity in their lives and assure their well-being. We therefore expect that there is a considerable biographical continuity in the way individuals cope with critical life events, and that the loss of an intimate partner is solved in very similar ways. We conceptualize these strategies as adaptive mental mechanisms (such as control beliefs). Based on an integrated bottom-up/top-down conception of subjective well-being (Schimmak, 2007), we expect that the impact of both top-down (dispositional variables, personality) and bottom-up variables (life conditions, financial satisfaction) are essential for the explanation of the outcome variables. However, we anticipate that top-down processes contribute substantial amounts of variance to well-being measures compared to bottom-up effects, which are expected to be less important. Based on subjective well-being research, we hypothesize that the process of coping with loss involves several phases.
First, the period during which the loss occurs (i.e., the first year of loss) is a time of destabilization (periphase). This is followed by a phase of active adaptation to the new situation (second and third years after the loss, past-phase). Finally, a phase of stabilization and return to the habitual baseline level can be expected.
Building upon this theoretical framework and considering the different research gaps outlined above, this project will focus on the following areas:
a) The incidence of bereavement, separation and divorce (cause, point in time) in a representative sample belonging to two age groups (middle and old age). These groups will represent both the German and French-speaking parts of Switzerland.
b) The reasons and circumstances of bereavement, separation and divorce, i.e., the quality of the relationship, marital and sexual satisfaction, agency (initiator or reactor), perceived level of anticipation and control (mastery).

c) The determinants that lead either to (increased) vulnerability or growth after experiencing the loss of an intimate partner. This analysis will take into account the following individual resources: psychological resources (personality; coping style; character strength; personal, familial, cultural and spiritual values; control beliefs; early childhood experiences/attachment; experience of silent and age-normed transitions), social resources (having children, partner, parents, friends), and financial resources and SES.
d) The short-term and long-term outcomes and the process of coping with this critical life event: psychological well-being (mastery, life satisfaction, sense of life), physical well-being (subjective health, health complaints, medication intake), social well-being (emotional and social loneliness, quality of contacts) and financial well-being in the different phases of coping. We will examine the first year of loss (phase of destabilization, peri-phase), the phase of adaptation (2-3 years after loss) and the post-phase or phase of stabilization (3-5 years after loss).

Data type
Primary, quantitative data - Longitudinal

Collected variables
This is a longitudinal study, whereby in a total of three surveys, persons from three stratified groups (married, divorced and widowed) were questioned about their psychological and physical well-beings. In total, more than 2,700 persons were included in the 1st survey, more than 2100 persons in the 2nd survey and more than 1800 persons in the 3rd survey. Personality variables, questions about biography and acute situations were surveyed. Specifically, separated or divorced persons were asked about the quality of the ex-partnership and how they dealt with the separation situation, as well as about changes after the loss. The questions were kept relatively constant over the survey periods to obtain information on the temporal course.
Detailed variables description available on FORSbase under “Documents, Dataset 821”

Periodicity of data collection
Every two years

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 12478
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/12478/14808/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
FORSbase Ref dataset: 821 (1.0.0)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-821-1
Open access with FORS account

Standardised interviews - face-to-face

Based on a survey of a representative sample of Swiss residents aged 60 and above, as well as an over-sampling of elderly immigrants, this project aims to study heterogeneity and inequalities in the individual living experiences of one of the most massive and inevitable waves transforming our society: aging.
More specifically, our first objective is to study the composition of the elderly population, stratified by age and sex, according to the availability and diversity of the resources they own. Analysis will take place from socioeconomic, psychological and physical points of view. This implies that we want to identify the following factors: (a) the situations of vulnerability resulting from the insufficiency of and/or inaccessibility to one or more crucial resources; (b) the age and sex distributions of those who lack resources; and (c) their relationships to other pertinent variables, such as national and cultural origin. Through the comparison with past surveys (1979 and 1994/95), it will be possible to challenge the general belief of continuous progress in well-being among the elderly, an obviously overly simplistic idea (d).
Our second major objective is to reach a better understanding of the individual aspects of aging: (a) personality across age and sex and over time; (b) individual differences in adaptation when the elderly reach a phase of their development during which losses become more important that gains and when they become aware of their own frailty; and (c) individual differences in coping with unexpected transitions, such as bereavement or divorce after a long relationship.
Among the resources that are crucial for dealing with the latent states of vulnerability (frailty) or critical events in elderly life courses, the relationships between the individual and his/her social environment are of great importance. That is why our third objective is to evaluate how (a) private social supports (from partners, kin, friends, neighbors) or (b) public social interventions are able to prevent negative outcomes (in terms of subjective health and well-being). In addition to the private and public, (c) the growth of the both ambiguous and promising care sector needs to be carefully considered from the point of view of the receivers (i.e., elderly and frail individuals).

Data type
Primary, quantitative data - Longitudinal

Collected variables
(1) socio-demographic information (e.g., financial resources, occupation and education of parents, multilingualism), (2) participation in – social – life and autonomy (e.g., life in society, family network, activities of daily living), (3) physical health (e.g., subjective health, chronic diseases comorbidity index), (4) mental health and psychological well-being (e.g., loneliness, perceived stress), (5) cognition (e.g., prospective memory, flexibility, specific cognitive functioning), (6) personality, self-perception and involvement in cognitive activities (e.g., personality, cognitive reserve, motivation for cognitive activities, memory self-efficacy), and (7) subjective perception of – own – aging (e.g., ageism, identification with group of older adults).

Periodicity of data collection
One single wave
Plus one sample of 3 immigrant’s communities

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 10685
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/10685/16700/overview

Data access:

Wave 1 on FORSbase:

Ref dataset: 1234 (1.0.0) Study «Vivre/Leben/Vivere» on the living conditions of elderly people in Switzerland, 2011. Wave 1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-1234-1
Open access with FORS account

Wave 2 on GitLab Unige:
Open access : https://gitlab.unige.ch/cigev/long_2017_vlv2

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based

LIVES-Jobvul strives for a better understanding of labour market outcomes by surveying recruiters. Its aim is to provide data on the demand-side of the Swiss labour market, using a quasi-experimental technique to allow for causal analysis. In particular, it is useful for analysing the effect of civil status, migration background, sex, children, level and type of education, and participation in active labour market programmes (ALMP) on wage recommendations and the likelihood to get invited to a job interview.
LIVES-Jobvul is a joint research project of two of the Swiss National Science Foundation National Centres for Competence in Research: LIVES, Overcoming vulnerability: life course perspectives and On the Move: The migration-mobility nexus. As such, it seeks to contribute to the key objectives of the two research centres: using innovative analytical techniques to study causes of vulnerability across the life course, notably relating to family formation and migrant backgrounds.

Data type
Primary, quantitative data

Collected variables
Gender, age, children, civil status, type of education, type of work experience, nationality, mother tongue, participation in active labour market programme, channel of job application, hobby

Periodicity of data collection
One single wave

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 13808
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/13808/16460/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
Ref dataset: 1141 (1.0.0)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-1141-1
Open access with user agreement

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper and web-based

This survey is part of the LIVES-programme and analyzes how networks help the unemployed to find a job. It is based on a large inflow-sample of unemployed workers in Switzerland who had newly registered with the public employment services between February and April 2012 in the canton of Vaud. The unemployed workers filled in two questionnaires on their social contacts and their job search strategy at the very beginning and the end of their unemployment spell during an observation window of 17 months. The first survey, a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, was administered during the compulsory information session organized by the public employment service. The second survey was sent by e-mail and postal mail to those jobseekers who had left the employment service. An additional survey was sent to the long-term unemployed, 12 to 15 months after entry into unemployment. For over 75% of the original sample, survey data could be matched with data from the unemployment register, providing some information on earlier unemployment spells, pre-unemployment wages and occupations. This dataset thus contains detailed information on jobseekers’ education, class, nationality, social network, job search method, unemployment duration, and characteristics of the old and new job.

Data type
Primary, quantitative data

Collected variables
Several dozen variables covering socio-demographic attributes, labour market experience, job search behaviour and characteristics of social networks

Periodicity of data collection
Two waves (entry and exit from unemployment)

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 10668
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/10668/15716/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
Ref dataset: 920 (1.0.0)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-920-1
Open access with user agreement

Standardised interviews - by mail

The research project on occupational transitions after plant closure in Switzerland’s manufacturing sector examines how workers overcome this critical life course event. The principal aim is to investigate whether workers find a new job, in which sector and occupation they are reemployed, whether they experience wages losses and whether their social life or psychological well-being is affected. The success of the transition into reemployment seems to depend on workers’ socio-demographic characteristics such as education, occupation or age. The project therefore strives to understand who the most vulnerable individuals are.
The Plant Closure Survey 2011 is an individual-level survey of about 1200 workers. It was conducted in Autumn 2011 at the Research Center for Life Course and Inequality (LINES) at University of Lausanne, Switzerland, within the National Competence Center of Research LIVES and with the financial support of the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO).

Data type
Primary, quantitative data

Collected variable
Several dozen variables covering socio-demographic attributes, labour market experience, social integration and subjective well-being

Periodicity of data collection
One single wave

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 10612
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/10612/12999/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
Ref dataset: 675 (1.0.0)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-675-3
Open access with user agreement

Standardised interviews - face-to-face

This survey measures social capital, family networks and life trajectories of adults individuals of two cohorts (1950-55 et 1970-75) living in Switzerland in 2011.  
Advanced modernity in Europe is characterized by both looser community ties than in the past and greater flexibility of social integration. This results in a gradual diversification of individual family and professional trajectories and the social configurations in which they take place. Recent conceptual and methodological advances offer new possibilities for longitudinal analysis of life courses and social networks. These advances help to better understand the cumulative dynamics of the relationships between events and individual trajectory structures in a complex social positioning space, since the latter is approached in an intersectional perspective that takes into account social class and gender effects. It also makes it possible to measure the link between these trajectories and the representations that individuals make of themselves in such a context. The historical and political dimensions of the modernization process make sense in the light of comparisons between different cohorts and countries. Based on a sample of 800 people representative for French, German and Italian-speaking Switzerland - associated with identical collectives interviewed for the same purpose in Portugal and Finland - this project intends to reveal the mechanisms that underlie the production of identities and social positioning over time, depending on gender and cultural and social capital available in specific institutional and historical contexts.

Data type
Primary, quantitative data

Collected variables
Besides standard survey variables, the Family tiMes surveys collected two types of information, using specific instruments.
- Measurement of individual social networks (emotional and material support, conflict). Instrument: Family Network Method (Widmer, E. D., Aeby, G., & Sapin, M. (2013). Collecting family network data. International Review of Sociology, 23(1), 27-46.)
- Measurement of individual coresidence, occupational, intimate and residential life trajectories. Instrument: Retrospective life history calendar. Morselli, D., Dasoki, N., Gabriel, R., Gauthier, J. A., Henke, J., & Le Goff, J. M. (2016). Using life history calendars to survey vulnerability. In Surveying human vulnerabilities across the life course (pp. 179-201). Springer, Cham.

Periodicity of data collection
One wave in 2011

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study:  11352
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/11352/14979/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
Ref dataset: 847 (1.0.0)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-847-1
Restriction: Academic research only, with prior agreement from the author

Standardised interviews - by telephone

COUPLES (Social Stratification, Cohesion, and Conflict in Contemporary Couples) is a longitudinal survey composed of three waves (1998, 2004 and 2011), which aims to investigate how couples organize their conjugal and family life over the life course, by taking into account the configurations of close ties (family and friendship networks) in which they are embedded. If on the one hand, we aim to understand the impact of life transitions and critical events on conjugal dynamics and partners’ networks; on the other hand, we want to explore how couples’ networks shape the conjugal dyad in terms of functioning (e.g., role differentiation), but also in terms of psychological (e.g., depressive symptoms) and conjugal vulnerability (e.g., separation thoughts) of both partners.

In 1998, a national representative sample of 1534 couples were interviewed by telephone (CAPI) through a questionnaire which covered several dimensions of conjugal and family life. Both partners were interviewed separately and invited to participate some years later. In 2004, a short version of the questionnaire was applied only to women belonging to this initial sample (N=1420). In 2011, after the inclusion of this survey in the national centre of research LIVES (IP 208), the original couples were re-interviewed, by applying a more complete questionnaire. Besides the original couples, 486 individuals were interviewed for the first time (cohort refreshment), as well as the new partners of the individuals who did not remain together between 1998 and 2011 due to separation, divorce or widowhood (N=25). Therefore, 2341 individuals belonging to 1838 couples (exceptionally in this wave, we allowed the inclusion of incomplete households, meaning that only one partner participated, even if the individual was living in couple).

Data type
Primary, quantitative data - Longitudinal

Collected variables
The data-set covers a wide range of objective and subjective indicators organized along several dimensions: attitudes to conjugal life (autonomy vs. fusional attitudes), family and conjugal practices (e.g., organization of household tasks), conjugal outcomes (e.g., frequency of separation thoughts), parent-child relationship (e.g., frequency of conflict), networks’ composition (eg., number of friends) and structure (e.g., density of emotional support), psychological functioning indicators (e.g., frequency of depressive symptoms), but also social stratification indicators (e.g., income). This survey represents an important contribution for the study of family life in contemporary societies, by providing longitudinal and dyadic data on couples, but also valuable information on the configurations of personal networks in which couples are embedded in their everyday lives.

Periodicity of data collection
Four waves: 1998, 2004, 2011, 2017

Public data sharing

FORSbase Ref study:  12547
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/12547/14297/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
Ref dataset: 827 (1.0.0)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23662/FORS-DS-827-3
Open access with FORS account and user agreement

Qualitative interviews

The research project “The multiple paths of lone parenthood”, which has been taking place in French-speaking Switzerland since 2012, analyses the paths and living conditions of single parents and their children. Through an interdisciplinary approach, combining sociological and demographic perspectives, as well as public policy and legal analysis, this research team is interested in several dimensions of lone parenthood :
- The career paths of lone parents following their transition to single parenthood
- The role of lone parents’ family and interpersonal networks (social networks) as a source of support or stressors
- The effects of work and unemployment on the health of lone mothers compared to couple mothers
- The meaning and repartnering of lone mothers
- The relationship between repartnering trajectories and the health situation of lone parents
- Child care arrangements, their determinants and consequences
- The role of public policies in addressing the vulnerability of lone parents

The project aims to contribute to the public debate on the growing diversity of family forms and social inequalities affecting children. This research also aims to provide a solid empirical knowledge base to inform public policies through the dissemination of its results to elected officials and professionals in the field.

Data type
Primary, qualitative data  - Longitudinal

Collected variables
Since 2012, around 40 parents who have experienced a lone parent situation are being interviewed at intervals of 2 to 3 years. Biographical interviews have been combined with life calendars and social network questionnaires to address the following:
- the transition to lone parenthood and the relationship with the non-custodial parent (custody negotiations and support payments)
- other family events and transitions (recoupling, remarriage, family recomposition)
- other domains of the life course (education, employment, housing, health)

In addition, each wave of field interviews focused on a specific element. Wave 1 (2012-2013) focused on the life course of lone parents and the retrospective experience of their transition to lone parenthood. Wave 2 (2015) focused on the role of public policies in overcoming the vulnerability of lone parents. Wave 3 (2017-2018) focused on the social support obtained through the support networks of these parents. Wave 4 (2020) addressed the impact of the situation derived from COVID-19 on these families. The common thread running through these different waves makes it possible to analyse changes in pathways in the areas of family, employment and health.

Periodicity of data collection
Every two years

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 13853
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/13853/16608/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
In edition
Publication planned for: April 2022
Restricted access: under the restricted conditions of acces that FORS has developed for qualitative sensitive data

Single mode surveys (paper, CATI and web) and sequential mixed mode surveys

In 2012 LIVES and FORS designed an experiment to provide evidence about which survey designs work best in the Swiss context, to maximise the quality of future quantitative research. As well as, to find the best combination of modes regarding response rates, biases, sample, budget and timing.
Survey-based data collection makes a fundamental contribution to social science research in Switzerland. Because different features of the design of a survey can have implications for the quality of the data collected, optimising the survey design is key to ensuring the accuracy of the conclusions drawn from analyses of the data, and hence for the validity of both theoretical and policy developments derived from these.
Today it is especially difficult to reach the households without a registered landline and it is increasingly difficult to convince people to participate. A multi-modal approach in terms of information gathering is thus increasingly necessary. This allows on the one hand to reach people through some specific method and not another and on the other hand people might be convinced to participate by offering the mode that suits them best (for some telephone, for others face-to-face or other).
In this experiment, single mode surveys (paper, CATI and web) and sequential mixed mode surveys (CATI plus paper, and web plus paper plus CATI/CAPI) are compared with respect to response rates and the representativeness of the responding sample.
The questionnaire was designed by selecting questions from various previous LIVES surveys and surveys executed by FORS, especially the European Social Survey (ESS). The selected questions related to the well-being and unease theme, but are also questions that seems particularly sensible to different modes, as under-representativeness of certain groups, different responses in different modes, etc.
The results lend support to the conclusion that mixing modes sequentially can help to increase response rates and improve sample representativeness, though differences were observed as a function of the availability of telephone numbers for sample members.

Data type
Primary, quantitative / qualitative ? data

Collected variables
A collection of variables taken from the European Social Survey module on social and personal wellbeing, plus measures relating to experience of life events and stress.

Periodicity of data collection
One single wave

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 12370
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/12370/13548/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
In edition
Data available on request

Semi-directed interviews

En comparaison internationale, le système éducatif suisse est considéré comme inégalitaire et reproduisant le niveau social au fil des générations, entre autre par une sélection précoce des élèves au sein de filières d’études hiérarchisées du secondaire I qui délimitent les opportunités de formations post-obligatoires.

Dans leurs analyses des trajectoires éducatives des élèves orientés dans les filières à exigences basses et intermédiaires, les auteurs distinguent sept groupes selon l’origine migratoire et la génération: (1) les natifs, (2) la seconde génération d’Espagne et d’Italie, (3) la seconde génération d’ex-Yougoslavie et d’Albanie, (4) celle de Turquie et du Portugal, (5) la seconde génération d’autres origines, (6) les immigrés (arrivés après l’âge de 10 ans) et (7) la génération 2.5 (dont les individus ont un parent immigré et un parent natif). Les auteurs formulent trois types de trajectoires de formation post-obligatoire. Par «trajectoire attendue», ils entendent le fait d’obtenir le même niveau de formation que la majorité (soit 69% d’entre eux) ayant fréquenté les filières à exigences étendues ou basiques, soit un certificat fédéral de capacité, une maturité professionnelle ou spécialisée, école supérieure professionnelle du niveau tertiaire. La «trajectoire ascendante» comprend la maturité gymnasiale, l’université, la HEP et la HES. Une trajectoire non-certifiante correspond au fait de ne pas obtenir de certification du post-obligatoire.

Les résultats basés sur les données TREE montrent p. ex. que les jeunes descendants d’ex-Yougoslavie et d’Albanie sont fortement surreprésentés dans la trajectoire non-certifiante (40%), comparés aux natifs (15%). En revanche, ces premiers sont gravement sous-représentés dans la trajectoire attendue (58% contre 80%). A compétences scolaires et origine sociale égale, la surreprésentation au sein des trajectoires non-certifiantes persiste. Cependant un partie d’entre eux emprunte plus souvent par rapport aux natifs une trajectoire ascendante. Malgré ces résultats contrastés, les auteurs trouvent dans les entretiens biographiques qu’ils ont pu mener avec 50 descendants d’immigrés albanophones une forte aspiration de mobilité ascendante et l’existence de soutien par les milieux scolaire, professionnel et familial dans ces efforts dans les cas de mobilité ascendante.

Data type
Primary, qualitative data

Periodicity of data collection
One single wave

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 13323
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/13323/15636/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
In preparation.
Publication planned: Fall 2022

Interview (CATI / online) + self-administered questionnaire (paper/online)

The aim of this project is to systematically study the direct and moderating impacts of cultural background, individual characteristics such as personality, motivation, or self-regulatory skills, and other resources such as social support on individuals’ professional trajectories and their career development. In order to do so, a longitudinal approach is implemented, implying a 7-year follow up of a large sample of workers and unemployed individuals, Swiss and non-Swiss. This is the first wave of the project. Since almost no longitudinal studies of professional trajectories based on a psychological perspective are available, we claim that this project bringing together different disciplinary specializations (personality and crosscultural psychology, career development psychology, positive psychology, work and organizational psychology) and combining different methodological approaches can extend and integrate the results obtained in specific research domains.

Data type
Primary, quantitative data based on both longitudinal and one-time measurements

Collected variables
1. Background data (socio-demographic data, employment status, job changes, household income, significant life events, etc.); 2. Working conditions (e.g., job demands, job insecurity, organizational climate); 3. Personality; 4. Health; 5. Personal resources; 6. Work-related attitudes; 7. Work-related and general well-beings; 8. Miscellaneous (depending on the wave)

Periodicity of data collection
Once per year, 7 waves

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 12734
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/12734/15746/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
Wave 1-5: Ref dataset: 12734
Wave 1: DOI: 10.23662/FORS-DS-836-1
Wave 2: DOI: 10.23662/FORS-DS-841-1
Wave 3: DOI: 10.23662/FORS-DS-879-1
Wave 4: DOI: 10.23662/FORS-DS-940-1
Wave 5: DOI: 10.23662/FORS-DS-1105-1
Wave 6: DOI: 10.23662/FORS-DS-1209-1
Wave 7: DOI: 10.23662/FORS-DS-1312-1
Restricted data access: External researchers are asked to fill out an inquiry with a short description of their research project. Other than that, there are no restrictions for data usage for external researchers. For now, all requests were accepted.

Self-administered questionnaire

The IP7 Diary Study “5 Days at Work” looks into the interplay between working conditions and personal resources in explaining the dynamics of workers’ well-being, with a special attention to vulnerabilities of different groups of employees. The study consists of two parts. The first part looks into participants’ background data and overall work and personal situation. The second part is based on a daily diary design and aims to capture daily work experiences (i.e., short-term dynamics and fluctuations of well- and ill-being at work).

Data type
Primary, quantitative data based on intensive repeated measurements

Collected variables
Background data (sociodemographic and job status data); Working conditions (job demands and resources, work-related vulnerabilities); Individual characteristics (character strengths, goal focus, personality aspects); Psychological states at work ; Coping strategies

Periodicity of data collection
Initial questionnaire – once, at the beginning of the study; daily diary – repeated measurements over 5 consecutive workdays.

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study:
FORSBASE (foreseen after 2 years) with restricted data access.

Data access on FORSbase:
Not applicable yet (primary data analyses in progress).

Self-administered questionnaire

The life calendar study uses the same pool of participants as the Professional Paths longitudinal study. The questionnaire for the calendar study was developed based on the LIVES Panel calendar tool (Morselli et al., 2016). It aims to measure important turning points in people’s lives since the entry into the labor market, and encompasses different domains, such as education, work, relationships, residence history, and health. As a result, the data includes both sociological and psychological indicators covering the above-mentioned domains, as well as information on social background, gender, and early life vulnerabilities. The study was conducted in collaboration with the LINK institute from January to March in 2020.  

Data type
Primary, quantitative, single measurement

Collected variables
Background data (socio-demographics)
Turning points and major events in different life domains

Periodicity of data collection
Single measurement

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study:
FORSBASE (foreseen after 2 years) with restricted data access.

Data access on FORSbase:
Not applicable yet (primary data analyses in progress).

Experience sampling, online questionnaires

The life-domains work and family influence each other and are closely intertwined. This study investigates the strain caused by the pursuit of multiple goals might be experienced in middle adulthood over the course of a year. The study also assessed various life-management and motivational constructs (e.g.,  election, optimization, and compensation; goal orientation; goal focus). Moreover, due to new telecommunication technologies, the overlap between life domains has very likely increased over the past decades. This study investigated the integration and segmentation of work, family, and leisure and its relations on subjective well-being and experienced goal conflict and facilitation.

MyLife is a 1.5 years encompassing longitudinal study with 4 waves of data collection. The sample consisted of adults (N = 277 at T1) aged between 30 and 55 years (M = 42 years) living with their partner and/or child/ren. Right after the first measurement occasion, a subsample (N = 89) took part in a time-sampling measurement burst. These participants received short questionnaires via smartphones during 20 consecutive days up to seven times a day, resulting on average in 126 measurement points per person. At each measurement point, participants reported where they were, to which life-domain their activity belonged, and about which life-domain there were thinking. Furthermore, subjective well-being, goal conflict, goal facilitation, and self-management strategies, and goal focus were assessed.

Data type
Primary, quantitative data - Longitudinal

Collected variables
Changes in personal goals in the work, family, and leisure domain, goal conflict, goal faciliation, goal focus, goal evaluations (importance, likelihood, etc.), SOC, mood, general and domain-specific life satisfaction, psychosomatic complaints.

Periodicity of data collection
Six month between measurement points

Public data sharing
SWISSUbase Ref study: 13453
SWISSUbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/13453/15926/overview

Data access on SWISSUbase :
In edition

Parchemins study: impact of legal status change on undocumented migrants’ health and well-being

In 2017, the canton of Geneva implemented Operation Papyrus, an innovative policy to regularize undocumented migrants. The Parchemins study was initiated in this context in order to measure the consequences of access to a residence permit on health, well-being and living conditions. Adopting an approach combining social determinants of health and life course, this interdisciplinary study collects quantitative and qualitative longitudinal data by following a cohort of people over several years. The study describes the characteristics and motivations of undocumented economic migrants living and working in the canton of Geneva, their family and social situation, their housing and employment conditions, as well as their health status. These results fill a gap in the empirical data for this population in Switzerland and Europe.?

Data type
Primary, quantitative longitudinal

Collected variables
A large array of variables covering work, health, living conditions, housing and socio-demographics

Periodicity of data collection
Four waves of data collection before/following regularization

Public data sharing
FORSbase Ref study: 20126
FORSbase project URL: https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/20126/19332/overview

Data access on FORSbase:
Ref dataset: 2170
DOI:  https://doi.org/10.48573/fys6-br62
Access after registration