To participate in the survey, you will receive an invitation letter by post. If you have received an invitation letter, it means you have been selected for the survey. This takes place by drawing lots. Participation is, of course, voluntary. Unfortunately, it is not possible for interested persons who have not received an invitation to participate in the study.
Yes, the survey can be interrupted at any time. Your answers will be saved so that you can resume the survey later, starting from the point at which you interrupted it. Please note, however, that the surveys are only available for a certain period of time.
My way in Germany is an online survey that examines the lives of migrants over an extended period of time. This means that the respondents have the opportunity to take part in surveys over several years. The surveys are exclusively voluntary and take place online. To date, only a few research studies have surveyed people of working age in Germany and abroad about their living and working conditions in this way.
The data collected will be used to investigate how the current social and economic changes influence the (working) lives of immigrants in Germany. We are interested in the working and living conditions and social security situations of migrants as well as their social and political attitudes. With this survey, the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) aims to contribute to addressing the immediate information requirements of the areas of public administration and politics and to create a basis for informed decisions.
All responses from the online survey are processed by computer. Your data is always stored anonymously, i.e. without providing your name or contact details. The responses of all the respondents are then statistically analysed. The total amount of all data can be used, for example, in order to calculate percentages or carry out statistical analyses. The results are reported in tables and graphs and selected analyses will appear on this website in the future. There are no recognisable details concerning individual persons.
Your information from the surveys will be processed in accordance with the strict data protection regulations and stored separately from your name and address. The Federal Employment Agency, represented by its executive board, Regensburger Str. 104, 90478 Nuremberg, Germany, is responsible for the processing of personal data within the scope of this survey. The technical implementation of the survey is carried out by the company Ingress as a contractor of the Institute for Employment Research. Ingress acts exclusively in accordance with the instructions of the Institute for Employment Research and is obliged to maintain strict confidentiality. You can find more information about Ingress at: www.ingress.de. At the Institute for Employment Research, only the researchers involved in the survey have access to the data from the survey. All of the parties involved are contractually obliged to maintain the strictest confidentiality.
No! The study only pursues research objectives. The data will not be forwarded for the purposes of market research or advertising! The results of the study will be made available to other researchers, politicians, administrators and interested members of the general public.
The study is currently still in its initial phase in which the initial results of the survey are being collected and evaluated. The research results will also be frequently reported in the media (daily newspapers, television news). We also plan to inform you directly on our website about results that are particularly interesting.
If people agree to share information about their life situation in surveys, the researchers can better recognise and understand their needs and challenges. The more people take part in such research surveys, the more accurate and detailed the picture becomes of how the lives and work of immigrants in Germany are developing. Their support is therefore of considerable importance for being able to advise political decision-makers on the basis of research findings.
The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) is the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency. The central task of the Institute is to provide political stakeholders at all levels with advice on the basis of its research findings. The research and consulting activities of IAB are based on its legal mandate, as set out in Section 55 (1) of Book Two of the German Social Code (SGB II) and Section 280 and 282 (1 – 4) of Book Three of the German Social Code (SGB III). Further information about the Institute for Employment Research is available the website: www.iab.de
The study is funded by the Federal Employment Agency. The study is scientifically independent, which means that the Institute for Employment Research and the project staff involved are solely responsible for the contents of the study. The Federal Employment Agency has no influence on the configuration of the study.
Experience has shown that participants need different amounts of time to answer the questions. Answering a survey should take about 20 minutes on average.
As part of our study, we would like to invite you to take part in a survey approximately once a year. If necessary, we will also invite you to partake in other surveys at short notice.
If you have any further questions, please contact the corresponding researchers by email at: myway@iab.de.
The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) is the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency (BA). The IAB is an office of the BA and obtained your contact details from the BA’s database in strict compliance with data protection regulations. This also includes notifications from organisations on periods of employment to the social security system. A legal basis exists for the associated intervention in the right to self-determination regarding information: In accordance with Section 282 (5) of Book Three of the German Social Code (SGB III), the data of the BA is made available to the IAB and may be used and processed there for its purposes. The IAB may also ask people to take part in surveys if the required information cannot be obtained from existing data.
In our study, we would like to learn about the experiences of migrants in Germany. In the various data sources of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), we therefore identified all persons with a foreign nationality who have ever registered as a resident of Germany. We then randomly selected participants from this group.
The various data sources of the BA encompass notifications made by employers on periods of employment subject to social security contributions as well as information available at the BA about unemployed persons or programmes that they have participated in. Unfortunately, it is sometimes the case that companies or employees at the BA record the details on nationality incorrectly. If this applies to you, we apologise. Unfortunately, we are unable to correct this information in the data for data privacy reasons. We kindly ask for your understanding.
In the various data sources of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), we recently identified all persons with a foreign nationality who have ever registered as a resident of Germany. The various data sources of the BA encompass employment-related information from companies and organisations as well as information available at the BA about unemployed persons or programmes that they have participated in.
Unfortunately, it is sometimes the case that companies or employees at the BA record the details on nationality incorrectly. If this applies to you, we apologise.