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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Priscilla T. Ryder, MPH, Beverly J. Wolpert, MS, Olivia Carter-Pokras, PhD, and Sandra A. Black, PhD. Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 660 West Redwood Street, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21201, 410.706.3733, pryder@epi.umaryland.edu

Random-digit dialing (RDD) is the premier survey method to ensure that respondents represent the study population. However, cell phones, call-screening, and telemarketing have decreased its efficiency. Moreover, African-American research participation, particularly among elders, may be low due to fear, mistrust, historical abuses, and lack of perceived benefit. The West Baltimore Health Study, a population-based survey of health status and healthcare practices, began recruiting a targeted 400 English-speaking African-Americans aged 60+ living in western Baltimore city in August 2005. 10,000 randomly generated telephone numbers were purchased from a commercial research firm; after the firm removed known non-working/non-residential numbers, 6857 remained. 2567 of these have final dispositions: 1056 (41.1%), age-, race-, or area-ineligible; 868 (33.8%), non-residential/non-working; 18 (0.7%), ineligible because of language or other communication problems. Of 428 (16.7%) numbers for which eligibility could not be ascertained, 125 (4.9%) refused before eligibility could be established; 303 (11.8%) were unanswered. Of 86 eligible respondents located, 30 refused participation, and 56 completed interviews (65.1% consent among known eligibles). Using the American Association of Public Opinion Research Response Rate 1 (AAPOR RR1) calculation (completed interviews divided by the sum of all interviews, non-interviews, and unknown eligibility cases), the response rate was 3.3%; adjusted for unknown eligibility (AAPOR's RR4), it rose to 35.2%. These figures are lower than for other national or local surveys, underscoring the difficulty of using RDD in the current climate, particularly for this population. It may be advantageous to supplement RDD with other targeted recruiting methods.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to
• Recognize the difficulties of random-digit dialing for recruitment in the contemporary climate of cell phones, caller-id, and telemarketing fatigue.
• Identify the special challenges in recruitment of older African Americans.
• Develop strategies to overcome these problems.

Keywords: Survey, African American

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation