Early phase: Preparation and survey development
• At the project’s outset, our priority was to plan and design a large-scale, web-based survey focused on collecting detailed information about respondents’ nuclear and extended kin. We began by reviewing existing research on family solidarity and social transmission, which underpinned the development of a tailor-made instrument called kincollector.
• Over the first year, we refined the kincollector interface to accommodate an unlimited range of relatives (e.g. cousins, step-siblings) without compromising survey length or data quality. We also established benchmark measures using data from established sources like pairfam, SOEP, ISSP, ESS, and GGP.
Mid phase: Fieldwork and data preparation
• In 2022, we launched extensive pretests with approximately 150 “anchor” respondents who each provided information on more than 2,000 family members combined. These trials helped us finalize the survey design and address technical challenges such as respondent burden and multi-actor recruitment.
• Despite notable challenges, primarily caused by the pandemic affecting fieldwork timelines and sample quotas, we rolled out the survey across Europe, collecting responses from over 12,000 anchor respondents (“egos”), who in turn identified more than 250,000 kin (“alters”). This breadth of coverage, capturing not just parents and children but also full and half-siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and step-relatives, is unique in contemporary family surveys.
Final phase: Validation, release, and analysis
• As promised in the Description of the Action (DoA), we publicly released the resulting KINMATRIX dataset in January 2025 via GESIS (ZA8825) alongside a complete documentation and metadata.
• Our team performed extensive validation studies, comparing KINMATRIX with official data, national registers, and probability-based surveys. The findings suggest that our non-probability survey design, combined with rigorous cleaning procedures, can produce data quality that satisfies the high standards of population sciences.
• Beyond releasing the dataset, we have published key findings on modern kinship structures (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2025) and on divorce and separation outcomes (Population and Development Review, 2023; The Journals of Gerontology, Series B, 2024). Several additional manuscripts have been published or are under review or in progress, emphasizing the dataset’s capacity to answer a broad range of family- and kinship-related questions.
• In terms of exploitation and dissemination, KINMATRIX has garnered interest among international scholars, policymakers, and data infrastructure initiatives, who are keen to replicate the KINMATRIX approach in new studies. Additionally, media outlets have highlighted the survey’s potential to transform our understanding of extended families in modern societies.
