Representative sampling of maritally violent and nonviolent couples: a feasibility study.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Criminology

Background:

• Representative sampling offers methodological advantages for research on marital violence.
• Few studies utilize random sampling for laboratory assessments of couples experiencing domestic violence.
• Challenges exist in recruiting diverse and representative samples for sensitive research topics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of three recruitment strategies for obtaining representative samples of couples for marital violence research.
• To compare the sampling success rates of random digit dialing, directory-assisted recruitment, and a hybrid approach.
• To assess the demographic representativeness and resource investment associated with each recruitment method.

Main Methods:

• The study compared three recruitment methods: random digit dialing, directory-assisted recruitment, and a hybrid approach.
• Researchers assessed the number of successful telephone contacts with couples for each method.
• Demographic data of the recruited sample were compared to the demographics of the calling area.

Main Results:

• No significant difference was found in the number of successful telephone contacts among the three recruitment methods.
• The majority of successful contacts involved nonviolent couples, indicating a potential bias.
• The recruited sample's demographics did not accurately reflect the demographics of the general population in the calling area.
• All tested recruitment methods demanded substantial financial and human resources.

Conclusions:

• Current random sampling methods for recruiting couples in marital violence research are not demonstrably superior in terms of contact success.
• Existing recruitment strategies struggle to achieve demographic representativeness and are resource-intensive.
• Further innovation is needed to develop more effective and efficient methods for sampling couples in domestic violence research.