Frequently Asked Questions.

The LISS panel adheres to the FAIR principles and disseminates LISS data as open as possible and as closed as necessary (i.e. protecting our respondents’ privacy).

Information on how to get access to LISS data can be found by first clicking The archive in the top menu. In the submenu items About the archive and Access the archive is subsequently explained how you can access the archive and download datasets.

Any variable from any LISS study that is published in the LISS Data Archive can be merged with other datasets by using the unique nomem_encr as the key variable in a statistical software program of you preference. 

Every researcher or policy maker can use the LISS panel for collecting new research data in a paid assignment. More information can be found on the page Use the panel. Or contact the head of the Survey Research Department, Boukje Cuelenaere, for further information.

You can easily compare the questions of your questionnaire with those in the LISS Data Archive by typing keywords in the search engine of the Data Archive.

We disseminate these variables separately from other survey questions. More information can be found on the page Background Variables. You can access the actual Background Variables files in the LISS Data Archive. 

Yes, this is possible since the original and refreshment samples of households are drawn from the population register by Statistics Netherlands. Please note that about 90% of the LISS data can be enriched, since 10% of the LISS panel members objected to merging their data. More information on how to merge LISS data with CBS microdata can be found at the site of Statistics Netherlands (in Dutch): CBS Microdata. Or you can contact Miquelle Marchand, deputy Head of the Survey Research Department at Centerdata, if you have any specific questions.

We do not deliver standard weights for LISS data. The reason is twofold.

Firstly, for panel data there are several possible target populations to weight to (for example: the population at the present, the population at the time of the start of the panel, or weights to compensate attrition or nonresponse).

Secondly, due to the way the LISS panel is used and depending on the research project, there are different possible variables to take into account for constructing the weights. The choice of weighting variables is strongly dependent on the topic and purpose of a specific study (and hence different every month, in the case of the LISS panel). Hence, there is no single, standard way to construct weighting variables for LISS data. We can calculate them à la carte, in which case you would have to indicate in detail for which variables you would like to weight and to which target population. For this calculation we charge a fee. It is always possible to calculate sample weights yourself, using population statistics from Statistics Netherlands (see CBS.nl).

We closely monitor the composition of the LISS panel and recruit refreshment samples regularly. In combination with the fact that the panel is based on a true probability sample, this should assure the representativity of the panel.

Note: A working paper of Lynn and Kaminska (ISER, University of Essex, UK), titled: “Criteria for developing non-response weight adjustments for secondary users of complex longitudinal surveys”, describes the complexity of constructing weights in panel studies. You can obtain the paper from the authors or by contacting info@lissdata.nl.

We do not disseminate postal and/or municipality code at the individual level, because of privacy reasons/identification risk of our respondents. We do disseminate the variable “sted”, which measures the urban character of a respondent’s place of residence. Special requests can be made to create a custom urbanization variable, which has to be of categorical nature. This is not cost-free.

The variable “herkomstgroep” measures ethnicity in several broad categories. It is part of the Background Variables of the LISS panel. The core study Religion and Ethnicity also includes several indicators of ethnic background. A more detailed ethnicity variable, “herkomstland”, is only available for the Immigrant panel in the Background Variables. It is published from September 2011 up until December 2014 (the Immigrant panel was discontinued after 2014). We do not provide more detailed information about the ethnicity of the respondents because of privacy reasons/identification risk.

A guideline on how to cite and refer to the LISS panel and LISS data is described in the document Referencing and citing the LISS panel. We appreciate it if you incorporate all your publications that use LISS data in our LISS Data Archive, or send Priscilla Zhang an e-mail so we can do it for you.  

During the recruitment of the panel, respondents who agree to participate in the panel receive a confirmation email, and a letter with login code. With the login code provided they can confirm their willingness to participate and immediately start the first questionnaire, which is a general starter questionnaire for new panel members. At the end of this questionnaire, respondents are asked to read and agree to the LISS informed consent. They can confirm their agreement by ticking a checkbox. Only when respondents agree to the LISS informed consent they can become a LISS panel member. This confirmation and informed consent procedure, following the consent to participate given in the recruitment interview, ensures the multi-step consent procedure of each respondent to become a panel member and participate in the monthly panel questionnaires.

More information about ethics and consent in the LISS panel can be found on the Ethics page.