Election Study Center (since 1989)

Chia-hung Tsai

2/14/2022

About Election Study Center

  • ESC was established in 1989 for studying election systems and electoral behavior.
  • Faculty: ESC has 5 full-time research fellows: Su-feng Cheng, Ching-hsin Yu, Lu-huei Chen, Eric Yu, and Chia-hung Tsai. They are jointly appointed by Political Science, National Development and East Asian Studies.
  • We also have University Chair Professor Chi Huang (with Political Science), Nathan Batto (with Academia Sinica), and Tsung-han Tsai (with Political Science) .
  • Staffs: We have one secretary, one IT person, and one contract employee who supports research projects and general affairs.

    • Our Projects

  • We conduct telephone, face-to-face and Internet surveys. Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) is our flagship project. TEDS has quarterly telephone surveys and post-election face-to-face interview. It is sponsored by MOST and founded by Professor Huang and many scholars in 2000. Professor Chen is the current PI.
  • Some ESC members join Taiwan Institute for Governance and Communication Research (TIGCR), one of the research centers of “Higher Education Sprout Project’s Part Two: The Feature Areas Research Center Program.” Professor Huang is the PI.
  • We regularly administer international projects, such as Taiwan National Security Study (TNSS) with Duke and Survey on Foreign Policies (SFP) with Harvard.
  • ESC also works with Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Mainland Affair Council, and Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

    • Projects Sponsored by MOST and Other Institutions

    Our Defining Publications

  • Mixed-member Electoral Systems in Constitutional Context: Taiwan, Japan, and Beyond is edited by Nathan Batto, Chi Huang, Alexander C. Tan (Canterbury, NZ), and Gary W. Cox (Stanford) and published by University of Michigan Press in 2016.
  • The Taiwan Voter is edited by Christopher Achen (Princeton) and Teh-Yu Wang (Illinois State) and published by University of Michigan Press in 2017.

    • Publications

    ]

    Four Long-Term Trends of Important Attitudes:

    Party Identification

    ]

    Independence-unification

    Taiwanese identity

    Presidential Popularity (2016-2018)

    Presidential Popularity (2018-2021)

    ESC’s Services

  • In addition to surveys, ESC edits a top Political Science journal: Journal of Electoral Studies.
  • ESC receives international scholars, media, and visitors in the wake of every national and local elections. Many consulates regularly interact with ESC for better understanding of Taiwan politics. We are also invited to discuss Taiwan elections on media, conferences, and forums.
  • ESC also supports Institute for Political Methodology (IPM) founded by Professor Chi Huang and many distinguished scholars in 2001. It is based on Academia Sinica. Professor Eric Yu is co-PI.
  • ESC’s telephone interview system supports survey-related courses offered by facuty of NCCU and other universities.
  • ESC conducts surveys on incumbent Deans of the college when their first terms end.

    • ESC Needs More Head Counts

  • We want to recruit at least one more faculty and one more staff in two years to share our workload and to support the upcoming curriculum: Data Science and Public Opinion Analysis (DSPOA).
  • DSPOA is the first curriculum that combines survey methods and data science. Students are required to take two survey courses offered by ESC. They should choose three optional courses from seven courses taught by faculty of Political Science, College of Informatics, and International College of Innovation.
  • The last time we hire a new research fellow is 2009, or 13 years ago. All of our research fellows are already full professors.
  • Based on our achievement and reputation, we believe that our fresh blood can contribute to NCCU in research, teaching, and social influence.

    • Thank you for your attention