The Targets and Methodology of TEPS-B

The following table offers information on how various TEPS-B samples are related to TEPS junior and senior high cohorts and how these samples were surveyed over the years:

TEPS-B 2009~2012

The TEPS-B separates two TEPS cohorts into four different follow-up samples. It surveyed two separate samples, Panel 1 SH (the senior high cohort surveyed by the TEPS in 2001 and 2003) and Panel 1/2 CP (the junior high cohort surveyed between 2001 and 2007), in 2009 (the green section on the table) :

The first follow-up phone survey of the TEPS-B took place from August to October in 2009 with the plan to proceed with in-person interviews of Panel 1 SH by the end of 2010. Our initial plan was to evaluate the overall feasibility of the TEPS-B as a whole based on the results gathered from the 2009 phone survey and the 2010 face-to-face interview survey of a subsample of Panel 1 SH. After all, the TEPS has stopped tracking its Panel 1 SH participants since 2003 and not following up its Panel 1/2 CP participants since 2007.

The TEPS-B also used the phone-survey to track down Panel 1/2 CP from September to October 2009. The TEPS has surveyed the respondents of Panel 1/2 CP since the first year of their junior high school days in 2001. Later, the TEPS had conducted follow-up surveys in their 9^th grade (their third year in the junior high) as well as their second and third year in the senior high (11^th and 12^th grade). Thus, Panel 1/2 CP has the great merit of being the most surveyed sample in the entire TEPS and TEPS-B project. The abbreviation of CP stands for the Core Panel.

By the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, the TEPS-B also carried out the follow-up phone survey to track down the rest of the TEPS junior high respondents (Panel 1 NCP), who were the classmates of Panel 1/2 CP. The TEPS had not surveyed these respondents since 2003. However, this phone follow-up survey could only complete one half of the targeted sample size due to the budget constraint. The other half was left for the next phase of TEPS-B to complete.

TEPS-B 2013~2017

The successful completion of the TEPS-B 2009 allows the longitudinal project to receive further fundings from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to implement a four-year project. The pink section on the table indicates the surveys completed by TEPS-B 2013.

TEPS-B 2013 completed phone follow-up surveys of Panel 1 SH and Panel 2 NP. It also carried out in-person interview surveys of Panel 1/2 CP and Panel 1 NCP from the year of 2013 to that of 2014.

The phone survey of Panel 1 SH in 2015: The TEPS-B used the phone survey to follow up Panel 1 SH the second time after the majority of the panel had completed formal schooling and started joining in the labor market. Hence, the goals of this phone follow-up survey are twofold. On the one hand, the survey investigated the debutante phase of the interviewee’s careers. On the other hand, it renewed the contact information of the panel for future follow-ups. There were many e-mail addresses gathered in the 2009 phone survey, and henceforth we also tested the method of the internet survey as a complementary means of the follow-up survey.

The phone-surveys of Panel 2 NP in 2013: The respondents of Panel 2 NP were the senior high classmates of Panel 1/2 CP who participated in TEPS surveys in 2005 and 2007. The panel had remained untracked since 2007. The phone survey updated essential information on respondents’ educational attainment since senior high and current job status.

The face-to-face interview survey of Panel 1/2 CP and Panel 1 NCP: Following the guide of TEPS-B 2009, TEPS-B 2013 conducted an in-person interview follow-up survey of Panel 1/2 CP and selected a subsample of Panel 1 NCP randomly. Jointly, these two samples are a representative sample of the junior high sample surveyed by the TEPS in 2001 and 2003.

TEPS-B 2018~2019

TEPS-B entered its third phase in 2018. The fundings of the project initially came from National Chengchi University and then, once again, the MOST. National Chengchi University allocated a research fund given by the Ministry of Education to Taiwan Studies Center (TSC) at NCCU, which organized an interdisciplinary research team to investigate critical issues related to the Millenials in Taiwan. With the funding support of TSC-NCCU, the TEPS-B conducted another round of the phone follow-up survey of Panel 1 SH in 2018. In 2019, with the funding of the MOST, the TEPS-B also completed a phone follow-up survey of Panel 1/2 CP. These two follow-up surveys aim to update the information of the panels and to implement a face-to-face interview survey in the near future.