Die WSI-Betriebsrätebefragung 2015

The Institute of Economic and Social Analysis (WSI) has collected representative data on works councils throughout Germany for almost twenty years. On the basis of the newly started survey phase in 2015, this article enables a deeper insight into the methodical structure and development of this survey. First, special attention is given to the concept of the telephone survey (definition of the target population, sampling procedure and testing of the questionnaire). Next, against the background of past surveys, participants tending to take part in the survey are documented according to the industry sector and company size. In the analysis this allows conclusions to be taken into account of any sampling bias in the WSI works council survey. Overall, it becomes clear that the sampling procedure for works council surveys demands particular care. The analysis of the systematic defaults in the WSI works council survey (non-response) shows that works councils in larger companies and in the new states (Länder) of East Germany display a higher probability of participating in the survey.