Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study Second Follow-up (BPS:90/94) Final Technical Report

This document provides a summary and evaluation of the methodological procedures and results of the full-scale implementation of the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Study Second Follow-up, 1990-94 (BPS:90/94). The study was conducted for the National Center for Education Statistics by Research Triangle Institute with the assistance of Abt Associations and Management Planning Research Associates. BPS:90/94 involved locating and computer-assisted telephone interviewing of a sample of individuals identified initially in the 1990 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. An introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the background, purposes, and scheduled projects of the BPS:90/94 full-scale study. Chapter 2 describes the design and method of the study, including sample design, respondent locating, data collection, and design of the operating control system. Chapter 3 presents the results of the locating and data collection, and Chapter 4 evaluates the quality of the data collected. The final three chapters present issues related to the construction of the study data file, sample weighting, and estimation techniques. Six appendixes describe the survey review panel membership and present student prenotification materials, the interview instruments, data collection materials, supplemental analytic results, and the variables used for design effects tables. (Contains 13 figures and 55 tables.) (SLD)