Spin- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with elliptically polarized radiation has been used to fully characterize the dynamics of photoelectron emission from free Xe atoms in the 5p-autoionization and continuum region. An advantageous reaction geometry and its experimental realization at the storage ring BESSY are discussed. The three independent experimental parameters which characterize the angular dependence of the photoelectron spin-polarization vector are reported for the wavelength range from 100nm to 40 nm. The results are compared with theoretical predictions based on RRPA-, RPAE- and semiempirical MQDT-calculations. The combination of existing data for the differential photoionization cross section with the spinpolarization parameters is used to completely decouple the photoionization channels: The transition matrix elements and their relative phases are determined separately for every single dissociation channel. The results are discussed in the context of the MQDT. Correlation effects and the influence of spin-orbit interaction on the continuum states most clearly show up when the Dill-Fano angular-momentum-transfer formalism is applied.