This introductory chapter describes the general basis, goals, and methods of the Berlin Aging Study (BASE). Three features represent the special characteristics of BASE: (1) sample heterogeneity through local representativeness (for West Berlin), (2) a focus on very old people (70–105 years), and (3) broadly based interdisciplinarity (internal medicine, geriatrics, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and social policy). Apart from discipline-specific topics, four common and intersecting theoretical orientations guide the study: (1) differential aging, (2) continuity versus discontinuity of aging, (3) range and limits of plasticity and reserve capacity, and (4) old age and aging as interdisciplinary and systemic phenomena. Outline After presenting a theoretical overview and discussing some methodological limitations of cross-sectional studies, this chapter presents three empirical aspects of BASE that are relevant to all chapters in this volume: (1) an overview of the measures used in the 14 sessions of data collection, (2) a summary of the findings of sample selectivity analyses, and (3) issues of generalizability, with a special emphasis on problems such as selective mortality and statistical weighting. In general, the selectivity analyses indicate that the BASE data are characterized by a considerable degree of heterogeneity and generalizability. Furthermore, there is little evidence of interactions between selectivity effects and the primary design variables – that is, chronological age and gender. Furthermore, there are also few indications that sample selection processes imply major effects on information about interindividual variability and covariation among variables.
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