%0 Journal Article
%T Evaluation of the role of location and distance in recruitment in respondent-driven sampling
%A Nicky McCreesh
%A Lisa G Johnston
%A Andrew Copas
%A Pam Sonnenberg
%A Janet Seeley
%A Richard J Hayes
%A Simon DW Frost
%A Richard G White
%J International Journal of Health Geographics
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1476-072x-10-56
%X Total-population data were available on a range of characteristics on a population of 2402 male household-heads from an open cohort of 25 villages in rural Uganda. The locations of households were known a-priori. An RDS survey was carried out in this population, employing current RDS methods of sampling and statistical inference.There was little heterogeneity in the population by location. Data suggested more distant contacts were less likely to be reported, and therefore recruited, but if reported more distant contacts were as likely as closer contacts to be recruited. There was no evidence that closer proximity to a village meeting place was associated with probability of being recruited, however it was associated with a higher probability of recruiting a larger number of recruits. People living closer to an interview site were more likely to be recruited.Household location affected the overall probability of recruitment, and the probability of recruitment by a specific recruiter. Patterns of recruitment do not appear to have greatly biased estimates in this study. The observed patterns could result in bias in more geographically heterogeneous populations. Care is required in RDS studies when choosing the network size question and interview site location(s).Hidden or hard-to-reach population subgroups, such as sex workers or men who have sex with men, are often key to the spread and maintenance of infectious diseases in human populations [1]. It can be difficult to estimate the prevalence of infection and risk factors in these populations as it may not be possible to obtain a representative sample, either because there may not be an adequate sampling frame or because the groups may be involved with illicit activities or subject to stigma. A variety of convenience sampling techniques are typically used to collect data on these populations [2], however they cannot be used to generate unbiased population-based estimates.Respondent-driven sampling (RDS)[3] is a varian
%U http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/10/1/56