IMPROVING AIDS BEHAVIORAL STUDIES USING T-ACASI

描述(改编自申请者摘要)：不断增长的主体 经验数据表明，调查程序要求受访者 向人类面试者透露敏感信息受到 非同小可的报道偏见。直到最近，电话调查还不能 提供一个私下的面试环境。电话调查的最新进展 方法：电话音频计算机辅助自访(T-ACASI)， 提供电话调查测量的完全私密的采访环境 与艾滋病相关的敏感行为等。在T-ACASI调查中，一名人类 面试官用于筛选和招募符合条件的受试者。然而，一旦 受试者已被招募，并已完成非敏感部分 调查，电话被转移到T-ACASI系统和 由计算机控制的预先录制的问题被朗读给受试者。这个 受试者通过按下按键电话上的按键来提供响应。 来自T-ACASI对艾滋病相关行为的试点调查的证据表明 使用T-ACASI程序是可行的，并且(1)受访者报告 提供有关他们性行为的敏感信息会更自在 T-ACASI系统的历史记录，而不是人类面试官的历史，以及(2) 使用T-ACASI似乎可以减少调查的漏报偏差 对敏感、污名化或非法行为的测量。 本申请寻求对两阶段研究项目的支持，以 评估T-ACASI方法对调查测量的影响 与艾滋病相关的敏感行为等。在第一阶段，调查人员 将比较数据的相对有效性和可靠性 T-ACASI面试与从标准电话面试中获得的面试结果相同。 一位面试者在美国全国成年人的概率 各州。在第二阶段，调查人员将对比所获得的结果 从T-ACASI面试到使用相当多的 昂贵的个人访问调查程序，负担得起类似水平的 隐私。 本研究计划的具体目的是评估：1) 如果有的话，新的T-ACASI技术可以提高有效性和 艾滋病相关人群和其他人群电话调查测量的可靠性 敏感行为；2)T-ACASI电话调查方法的程度 可能为更昂贵的面对面调查提供合理的替代方案 测量程序；以及3)采用这种方法的成本和障碍 技术(假设发现该技术产生了改进 测量)。除了这些基本的科学目标外，拟议的 研究的目标是更多的科学应用。这项调查 这项研究中使用的仪器将复制主要研究中使用的仪器 美国国立卫生研究院资助的艾滋病相关行为电话调查项目 国家艾滋病行为调查(NABS)研究计划。通过复制 通过这些调查的测量，调查人员的目标是能够 对可能影响这些的偏差程度的直接评估 广泛使用的有关美国艾滋病相关行为的信息来源 各国，并酌情作出统计调整，以说明这种情况 偏见。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Abstract): A growing body of empirical data indicates that survey procedures which require respondents to reveal sensitive information to human interviewers are afflicted by non-trivial reporting biases. Until recently, telephone surveys could not offer a private interview context. A recent advance in telephone survey methods, telephone audio computer-assisted self interviewing (T-ACASI), offers a fully private interview context of telephone survey measurements of AIDS-related and other sensitive behaviors. In a T-ACASI survey, a human interviewer is used to screen and recruit eligible subjects. However, once the subject has been recruited and has completed nonsensitive portions of the survey, the phone call is transferred to the T-ACASI system and computer-controlled, pre-recorded questions are read to the subject. The subject provides responses by pressing keys on a touch-tone telephone. Evidence from a pilot T-ACASI survey of AIDS-related behaviors indicate that use of T-ACASI procedures is feasible and that (1) respondents report feeling more comfortable providing sensitive information about their sexual histories to a T-ACASI system rather than to a human interviewer, and (2) use of T-ACASI appears to reduce the under-reporting bias for survey measurements of sensitive, stigmatized, or illicit behavior. The present application seeks support for a two-stage research project to assess the impact of T-ACASI methodology on survey measurement of AIDS-related and other sensitive behaviors. In Phase 1, the investigators will compare the relative validity and reliability of data provided during a T-ACASI interview to that obtained from a standard telephone interview using a human interviewer in a national probability of adults in the United States. In Phase 2, the investigators will contrast the results obtained from T-ACASI interviewing to results obtained using the considerably more expensive, personal visit survey procedures that afford similar levels of privacy. Specific aims of this research program are the assessment of: 1) the extent, if any to which new T-ACASI technology may increase the validity and reliability of telephone survey measurements of AIDS-related and other sensitive behaviors; 2) the extent to which T-ACASI telephone survey methods may provide a reasonable substitute for more expensive, in-person survey measurement procedures; and 3) the costs and barriers to adoption of this technology (assuming that the technology is found to yield improved measurements). In addition to these basic scientific aims, the proposed research aims for an additional, scientific application. The survey instrument to be used in this research will replicate one used in a major NIH-funded program of telephone surveys of AIDS-related behaviors: the National AIDS Behavioral Survey (NABS) research program. By replicating measurements from these surveys, the investigators aim to be able to make direct assessments of the extent of the biases that may affect these widely-used sources of information on AIDS related behavior in the United States and, if appropriate, make statistical adjustments to account for such bias.