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The Swiss Hidden Population Study: practical and methodological aspects of data collection by privileged access
1Institut de recherche sur l'environment construit, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Addiction (Abingdon, England)
|March 1, 1997
Summary
The Privileged Access Interviewer (PAI) method effectively recruits hidden populations, such as heroin and cocaine users, for research. Data reliability is high, but validity depends on the diversity of recruitment environments.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Sociology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Recruiting hidden populations, like illicit drug users outside treatment, presents significant challenges.
- Traditional recruitment methods often fail to reach these hard-to-access groups.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test and implement the Privileged Access Interviewer (PAI) method for recruiting heroin and/or cocaine users in Switzerland.
- To evaluate the practical aspects, reliability, and validity of the PAI recruitment strategy.
Main Methods:
- 31 Privileged Access Interviewers were recruited across Switzerland between June 1994 and June 1995.
- PAIs conducted 943 standardized interviews, with 917 deemed valid, targeting individuals outside of formal treatment settings.
Main Results:
- The PAI method successfully recruited individuals, with 54% meeting the target population criteria.
- Reliable data was collected efficiently, provided adequate controls were in place.
- Data validity was primarily influenced by the diversity of social environments from which PAIs recruited participants.
Conclusions:
- The PAI method is a viable strategy for collecting reliable data from hidden populations in a timely manner.
- Ensuring diverse recruitment milieus is crucial for enhancing the validity of data obtained through PAIs.
- Qualitative insights into PAI recruitment practices are essential for robust data interpretation.