Although TIU had published a book in 1935 entitled General Research into Taiwan's Mountain Tribes, Japanese research hadn't yet included the Thao tribe. Once NTU established its anthropology department, its professors would lead students conducting fieldwork in various villages in remote mountain regions.
雖然一九三五年台北帝大教授移川子之藏等人就出版了《台灣高砂族系統所屬之研究》一書，但由於邵族因與漢人接觸較久而常遭早年研究者忽略，以致日本人的研究並未包括邵族，台大人類學系成立後，就在老師的帶領下，長年翻山越嶺到各部落進行田野調查。