5055.0: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 - 9:15 AM

Abstract #20577

Use of a telephone screener to identify a probability sample of gays, lesbians and bisexuals

Randall Sell1, Jennifer Kates2, Mollyann Brodie2, and Charles E. Denk3. (1) Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, 600 West 168th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10032, 212-305-3457, rls39@columbia.edu, (2) Kaiser Family Foundation, 2400 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, (3) Princeton Survey Research Associates, 911 Commons Way, Princeton, NJ 08540

Objectives: To examine public response to a telephone screener used to identify a probability sample of lesbians, gays and bisexuals.

Methods: A telephone screener was designed to provide a representative sample of self-identified lesbians, gays and bisexuals in the 30 central cities of the 15 largest Consolidated Metropolitan Areas.

Results: Of 14,458 households contacted, 11,612 completed at least part of the survey. Of these, only 2.6% refused or responded “don’t know” to the screener question. Respondents from the northeast were more reluctant to answer than respondents from the west.

Conclusions: The use of a screener on a national telephone survey to screen households for self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults was a successful way to generate a representative sample.

Learning Objectives: N/A

Keywords: Methodology, Data Collection

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA