A sample will be drawn from universities in every German federal state recording all personnel in these institutions. Sample recruitment will be carried out using relevant information collected from university calendars and Internet homepages. In an attempt to obtain a sample as large as possible, cerca 40,000 academics will be informed of the study and requested to participate via e-Mail sent to them personally.
Professors as well as junior academics of both genders need be included in the sample to study possible processes related to starting a family during the lower and mid-level academic career stages, which are known to be crucial stages of qualification and where the dropout rate is high. During the study period all of these academics are employed at one of the selected universities. The survey is independent of the number of children an academic has, and so academics who have no children as well as mothers and fathers will be recruited for the survey.
The advantage of this sampling method is its concentration on several institutes as sample recruitment can be carried out in a more focused manner. Direct comparisons of the discipline cultures within the institutions can be made and in addition, advantages in knowledge about the different forms of institutions and their specific attributes will become apparent from the comparison.
