CILS4NEPS - unlocking research potential through more participants, more schools and international comparison : harmonized data for research on education, school-to-work transition and integration processes for adolescents in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and England

The CILS4NEPS project combined and harmonized panel data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) and Starting Cohort 4 of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS SC4). This unlocks additional research potential beyond the scope of both individual datasets by increasing sample sizes and enabling international comparisons of the NEPS data. Both, the combined dataset as well as additional material to reproduce and expand the harmonization are available to users. In this article, we will first introduce the individual datasets and their comparability and describe the steps of the harmonization process. Furthermore, we will present the comparable content between both surveys, the structure of the harmonized dataset, and weighting issues. Subsequently, we provide descriptive statistics, the analytical potential, and information on data access. Lastly, we will finish with an outlook on the continuing harmonization of CILS4EU and NEPS SC4.