Measuring Migrants' Educational Attainment: The CAMCES Tool in the IAB-SOEP Migration Samples

Abstract

Education is one of the most frequently used variables in social science research. However, it is challenging to measure educational attainment with a high degree of validity and comparability in migrant surveys. In migrant surveys, respondents were educated in various different educational systems. Rather than providing specific response options for the qualifications available in every country of origin, migrant surveys often use generic response options (such as “secondary education”) that supposedly work equally well for respondents educated in all kinds of educational systems. Given the lack of universal understanding of such generic categories, we have doubts whether this approach leads to reliable, valid, and comparable data. To improve the measurement of educational qualifications obtained abroad, GESIS has developed a new tool in the project "Computer-assisted measurement and coding of education in surveys" (CAMCES). In this paper, we present how migrants’ education is usually measured in the German IAB-SOEP Migration Samples and the alternative measurement using the CAMCES tool implemented in the IAB-SOEP Migration Samples 2015 and 2016. We analyze the coverage of educational systems in the CAMCES tool, compare the level of item nonresponse and non-coded responses affecting the standard and the CAMCES instruments, and examine the consistency of the resulting education variables. The paper concludes by discussing benefits and limitations of either measurement approach, and by giving an outlook of possible applications of the CAMCES tool.