NollMain sources for this biography is the biographical information available from Noll's site at GESIS , his publications and personal information and experience. studied sociology, economics, social policy and statistics at the Goethe University Frankfurt. After the diploma in sociology he wrote a dissertation at the chair of Wolfgang Zapf at the University of Mannheim and received his philosophers degree (Dr. phil.) in 1981 with a thesis on "Occupational Chances and Working Conditions: A Social Report for the Federal Republic of Germany 1950–1980“ („Beschäftigungschancen und Arbeitsbedingungen: Ein Sozialbericht für die Bundesrepublik 1950–1980“) (1982).
