Study retention as bias reduction in a hard-to-reach population
Study retention as bias reduction in a hard-to-reach population
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1604138113
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发表时间：
2016-05-17
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Sirois, Catherine
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Western, Bruce;Braga, Anthony;Sirois, Catherine
从难以接触到的人群中收集数据是研究贫困和其他形式极端不利处境的一个关键挑战。利用波士顿重返研究（BRS）的数据，我们记录了获释囚犯的极端边缘化以及研究保留和分析的相关困难。对BRS数据的分析产生了三个结果。首先，获释囚犯表现出高度的"接触不安全感"，与社会不安全感相关，其中居住地址和联系信息经常变化。第二，数据收集战略可用于维持非常高的研究参与率。第三，在高度边缘化的人群中，调查无应答是强烈不可否认的，与社会和经济脆弱性密切相关。1年随访期内94%的BRS应答率允许分析假设的高无应答率。在这种情况下，无应答减弱了住房不安全，药物使用和失业分析的回归估计。这些结果表明，在分析非常贫困和弱势群体时，最大限度地提高研究参与度的方法可以减少偏差，并产生可以有效补充大规模家庭或行政数据收集的数据。
Collecting data from hard-to-reach populations is a key challenge for research on poverty and other forms of extreme disadvantage. With data from the Boston Reentry Study (BRS), we document the extreme marginality of released prisoners and the related difficulties of study retention and analysis. Analysis of the BRS data yields three findings. First, released prisoners show high levels of "contact insecurity," correlated with social insecurity, in which residential addresses and contact information change frequently. Second, strategies for data collection are available to sustain very high rates of study participation. Third, survey nonresponse in highly marginal populations is strongly nonignorable, closely related to social and economic vulnerability. The BRS response rate of 94% over a 1-y follow-up period allows analysis of hypothetically high nonresponse rates. In this setting, nonresponse attenuates regression estimates in analyses of housing insecurity, drug use, and unemployment. These results suggest that in the analysis of very poor and disadvantaged populations, methods that maximize study participation reduce bias and yield data that can usefully supplement large-scale household or administrative data collections.