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For hard-to-survey populations such as ethnic minorities and immigrants, increasing survey response rates is a crucial element of the fieldwork as these populations often show a higher likelihood of not participating compared with the native population. However, no study has so far compared different strategies for mobilisation within this group. Using data from the Immigrant German Election Study II, this experiment systematically compares the effects of home visits and postal reminders for the mobilisation of immigrant-origin non-respondents (i.e. persons classified as being from Turkey or from the former Soviet Union and its successor states) from a randomly drawn sample regarding the likelihood of participation in the first wave, signing up for a multi-wave panel, and taking part in all three panel waves. Multivariate analyses show that those in the treated home-visit group were more likely to take part in all stages of the survey design. Even though costs are higher than conventional postal reminders, home visits might be a useful strategy for cases in which increasing the response rate is an important goal, given a fixed, small number of potential respondents.

The purpose of this study conducted in 36 infant-toddler centres ("Kinderkrippen") in the city of Munich in Bavaria/Germany was to explore structural characteristics of early child care and education and their effects on child care quality. Stepwise regressions and variance analysis (Manova) examined the relation between quality of care and structural characteristics such as group size, staff competence and preparation time. A multi-respondent approach was employed, including self-report questionnaires of educators ("Erzieherinnen") as well as data on local working conditions collected from the directors of the centres. The findings of this study suggest that different sets of variables can be used to predict quality of education for under-threes. The practitioners' reported quality of education was found to relate to higher competence (with regard to centre programme, documentation, teamwork and staff qualification), better orientation towards the children's needs and better working atmosphere. Furthermore there were multivariate effects of the availability of and networking with external specialists, preparation time, and grouping arrangements within the centre such as changing from a home-group approach to an open-group setting. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for research and the basic impact of education in early childhood. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)