Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012:6:77-82.
doi: 10.2174/1874613601206010077. Epub 2012 Sep 7.

Assessing the assumptions of respondent-driven sampling in the national HIV Behavioral Surveillance System among injecting drug users

Amy Lansky  1 , Amy Drake, Cyprian Wejnert, Huong Pham, Melissa Cribbin, Douglas D Heckathorn
Affiliations

Assessing the assumptions of respondent-driven sampling in the national HIV Behavioral Surveillance System among injecting drug users

Amy Lansky et al. Open AIDS J. 2012.

Abstract

Several assumptions determine whether respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is an appropriate sampling method to use with a particular group, including the population being recruited must know one another as members of the group (i.e., injection drug users [IDUs] must know each other as IDUs) and be networked and that the sample size is small relative to the overall size of the group. To assess these three assumptions, we analyzed city-specific data collected using RDS through the US National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System among IDUs in 23 cities. Overall, 5% of non-seed participants reported that their recruiter was "a stranger." 20 cities with multiple field sites had ≥1 cross-recruitment, a proxy for linked networks. Sample sizes were small in relation to the IDU population size (median = 2.3%; range: 0.6%- 8.0%). Researchers must evaluate whether these three assumptions were met to justify the basis for using RDS to sample specific populations.

Keywords: HIV; behavioral surveillance.; injection drug use; respondent-driven sampling.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Lansky A, Sullivan PS, Gallagher K, et al. The HIV behavioral surveillance program in the US: A conceptual framework. Public Health Rep. 2007;122(Suppl1):16–23. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Diaz T, DeCock K, Brown T, et al. New strategies for HIV surveillance in resource-constrained settings: an overview. AIDS . 2005;19(Suppl 2):S1–S8. - PubMed
    1. Semaan S, Lauby J, Liebman J. Street and network sampling in evaluation studies of HIV risk-reduction interventions. AIDS Rev . 2002;4:213–23. - PubMed
    1. Magnani R, Sabin K, Saidel T, et al. Review of sampling hard-to-reach and hidden populations for HIV surveillance. AIDS. 2005;19(Suppl 2):S67–72. - PubMed
    1. Heckathorn DD. Respondent-driven sampling: a new approach to the study of hidden populations. Soc Probl. 1997;44:174–99.

LinkOut - more resources