Hard-to-Survey Populations

Surveys are used extensively in psychology, sociology and business, as well as many other areas, but they are becoming increasingly difficult to conduct. Some segments of the population are hard to sample, some are hard to find, others are hard to persuade to participate in surveys, and still others are hard to interview. This book offers the first systematic look at the populations and settings that make surveys hard to conduct and at the methods researchers use to meet these challenges. It covers a wide range of populations (immigrants, persons with intellectual difficulties, and political extremists) and settings (war zones, homeless shelters) that offer special problems or present unusual challenges for surveys. The team of international contributors also addresses sampling strategies including methods such as respondent-driven sampling and examines data collection strategies including advertising and other methods for engaging otherwise difficult populations.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Defining hard-to-survey populations; 2. Hard-to-survey populations in comparative perspective; 3. Measuring undercounts for hard-to-survey groups; 4. Counting and estimating hard-to-survey populations in the 2011 Census; 5. A review of quality issues associated with studying hard-to-survey populations; Part II. Conducting Surveys in Difficult Settings: 6. Disaster research: surveying displaced populations; 7. Conducting surveys in areas of armed conflict; 8. Interviewing in disaster-affected areas: lessons learned from post-Katrina surveys of New Orleans residents; 9. Reaching and enumerating homeless populations; 10. 'Where are our costumes?': The All Ireland Traveller Health Study - our Geels 2007–11; Part III. Conducting Surveys with Special Populations: 11. Representing the populations: what general social surveys can learn from surveys among specific groups; 12. Surveying cultural and linguistic minorities; 13. Challenges to surveying immigrants; 14. Ethnographic evaluations on coverage of hard-to-count minorities in US decennial censuses; 15. Methodological and ethical issues arising in carrying out research with children and young people; 16. Challenges in the first ever national survey of people with intellectual disabilities; 17. Conducting research on vulnerable and stigmatized populations; 18. Surveying political extremists; Part IV. Sampling Strategies for the Hard to Survey: 19. Probability sampling methods for hard-to-sample populations; 20. Recent developments of sampling hard-to-survey populations: an assessment; 21. Indirect sampling for hard-to-reach populations; 22. Sampling the Maori population using proxy screening, the Electoral Roll, and disproportionate sampling in the New Zealand Health Survey; 23. Network-based methods for accessing hard-to-survey populations using standard surveys; 24. Link-tracing and respondent-driven sampling; Part V. Data Collection Strategies for the Hard to Survey: 25. Use of paid media to encourage 2010 Census participation among the hard to count; 26. The hard to reach among the poor in Europe: lessons from Eurostat's EU-SILC survey in Belgium; 27. Tailored and targeted designs for hard-to-survey populations; 28. Standardization and meaning in the survey of linguistically diversified populations: insights from the ethnographic observation of linguistic minorities in 2010 Census interviews; 29. Mobilizing hard-to-survey populations to participate fully in censuses and surveys; 30. Finding the hard to reach and keeping them engaged in research.

Roger Tourangeau is a Vice President at Westat.
Brad Edwards is a Vice President and Deputy Area Director at Westat.
Timothy P. Johnson is Director of the Survey Research Laboratory and Professor of Public Administration at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Kirk M. Wolter is Executive Vice President, NORC at the University of Chicago and Professor, Department of Statistics, University of Chicago.
Nancy Bates is a Senior Researcher for Survey Methodology at the US Census Bureau.