Methodological issues in community surveys of suicide ideators and attempters

There have been quite a number of community studies in recent years, with surveys being conducted among the general population, in schools, and among the elderly. While all of these studies have greatly contributed to our understanding of suicidal behavior, because of different approaches toward methodology and definitions, they also have some limitations. These limitations spring mainly from the fact that definitions of suicidal ideation and behavior vary widely across studies, which makes comparisons between studies unreliable. The different utilization of methodology is another problem that can impact the comparability of the community studies.