Lansky Amy, Drake Amy, Wejnert Cyprian, Pham Huong, Cribbin Melissa, Heckathorn Douglas D
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA.
Open AIDS J. 2012;6:77-82. doi: 10.2174/1874613601206010077. Epub 2012 Sep 7.
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.
有几个假设决定了应答驱动抽样（RDS）是否是适用于特定群体的抽样方法，包括所招募的人群必须作为该群体的成员相互认识（即注射吸毒者[IDU]必须作为注射吸毒者相互认识）并且形成网络，以及样本规模相对于群体的总体规模较小。为了评估这三个假设，我们分析了通过美国国家艾滋病毒行为监测系统在23个城市的注射吸毒者中使用RDS收集的特定城市数据。总体而言，5%的非种子参与者报告称他们的招募者是“陌生人”。有多个实地调查点的20个城市存在≥1次交叉招募，这是关联网络的一个指标。相对于注射吸毒者群体规模而言，样本规模较小（中位数 = 2.3%；范围：0.6% - 8.0%）。研究人员必须评估这三个假设是否成立，以证明使用RDS对特定人群进行抽样的依据。
