The questionnaires of Taiwan surveys contain core modules and supplemental modules. The core modules in the first-wave questionnaire of main respondents (Questionnaire RI) include time-varying questions on demographic characteristics and basic information (e.g., health conditions), employment status and work-related information, marital status and spousal information, family structures, housing information and residential arrangement, incomes and expenses, and family members’ (e.g., parents, parents-in-law, siblings, and children) related information. In order to understand changes in this time -varying information, these core modules in Questionnaire RI are retained in each follow-up questionnaire of the main respondents (Questionnaire RR). Questions and options of these core modules have mostly remained the same throughout all the surveys, with only minor revisions in response to social and institutional changes.
Because Questionnaire RI is designed for the first-wave data collection of the main respondents, its core modules contain more contents than those of the other questionnaires. In addition to the core modules mentioned above, Questionnaire RI contains core modules on less varying information (e.g., birth place, language usage, military services, family values, and filial piety) and retrospective information (e.g., educational experience, family background, first formal job, and spousal background).
The core modules of the questionnaire for child respondents aged 16-24 (Questionnaire C) contain more questions on educational information because a majority of these respondents are attending school at the time of the survey. In the core modules of Questionnaire C, information on the current educational stage includes school-relevant information, academic performance, extracurricular activities, parental involvement, future plans after graduation, etc. The other core modules are similar to those of Questionnaire RR, yet the contents are much simpler than those of Questionnaire RR.
Supplemental modules are designed by the researchers in the PSFD project or outside researchers via call for modules. Before a supplemental module is finalized, it has to go through intensive discussions, cognitive interviews, and sometimes a pretest.