Abstract:

Only four months after the breach of the Berlin Wall, the Allensbach Institute had already set up its own interviewer network in the GDR, with approximately 600 interviewers recruited personally or by mail. Even before the first free elections in March 1990 2,5 interviews had been conducted. Election forecasts made prior to three selections held in 1990 demonstrated the efficacy of a Methodology based on quota sampling and standardized questionnaires designed according to western models. In a joint project, the Gruner + Jahr publishing house in Hamburg and the Allensbach Institute conducted the first Major media market study in the GDR in four weeks time, beginning with the fieldwork only 12 days after the monetary union (July 1, 1990). The present paper discusses the experiences gained by conducting surveys in East Germany between March 1990 and March 1991 and also deals with the similarities and differences between East and West Germans.