2004/06 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/06) Field Test Methodology Report. Working Paper Series. NCES 2006-01

The 2004/06 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/06), conducted for the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), collected information about the education and employment experiences of students in the two years following their first enrollment in postsecondary education. The primary objective of BPS:04/06 is to follow a cohort of students from the start of their postsecondary education and collect further data from them in 2006 and 2009. This report describes the methodology and findings of the BPS:04/06 field test, which took place during the 2004-05 school year. The BPS:04/06 field test was used to plan, implement, and evaluate methodological procedures, instruments, and systems proposed for use in the full-scale study scheduled for the 2005-06 school year. Appended are: (1) Technical Review Panel Contact List; (2) Data Elements for the BPS:04/06 Student Interview; (3) Advance Contacting and Mailout Materials; (4) Training Materials; (5) Facsimile of Field Test Instrument; and (6) Facsimile of Reinterview Data Collection Instrument. (Contains 6 endnotes, 33 tables, and 7 figures.)