FREIE WÄHLER: Members, Identity and Organization. A Membership Survey

利用邮寄调查，这项研究将第一次就独立选举人名单的成员和地方组织结构产生确凿的经验证据。这项研究将覆盖整个德国，并将只关注Freie Wühler的成员。这项调查还将产生关于自由党候选人和在职者的结果。这项研究的中心焦点将是Freie Wähler的身份。简而言之：什么是解释参与的相关因素，什么是社会人口概况，自由党的成员具有哪些政治取向，这些结果与对政党和地方选举人名单(Komomale Wählergomeinschaften)的研究结果相比如何？自由党是由一个类似政党的组织(联邦选举委员会)和一个选举名单协会(地方选举人名单)组成的组织混合体。这项研究将首次涵盖整个现象。为了做到这一点，我们将使用国家样本调查这两个部门的成员。这也将使我们能够系统地比较这两个组织组成部分的社会人口和态度概况。我们的结果还将与党员调查的结果进行比较，特别是与最新的德国党员研究PAMIS的结果进行比较。由于Freie Wähler是地方选举人名单的特例，这也提供了有趣的比较视角。

Using a postal survey this study will be the first to generate solid empirical evidence on the membership and the local organizational structure of the FREIE WÄHLER (Independent Electoral Lists). The study will cover the entire Germany and will focus solely on the membership of the FREIE WÄHLER. The survey will also generate results on candidates and incumbents of the FREIE WÄHLER. The central focus of the study will be on the identity of the FREIE WÄHLER. In a nutshell: What are the relevant factors explaining participation, which sociodemographic profile, which political orientations characterize the membership of the FREIE WÄHLER and how do these results compare to those from studies on political parties and the Kommunale Wählergemeinschaften (Local Electoral Lists)?The FREIE WÄHLER are an organizational hybrid consisting of a party-like organization (Bundesvereinigung) and an association of electoral lists (Landesverbände and Bundesverband). For the first time, this study will cover the entire phenomenon. In order to do so we will survey the members of both components using national samples. This will also allow us to systematically compare the sociodemographic and attitudinal profiles of both organizational components. Our results will also be compared to the results from party membership surveys, particularly to the most recent German party member study PAMIS. As the FREIE WÄHLER are a special case of Local Electoral Lists, this offers also interesting comparative perspectives.