Sampling and Recruitment Issues in Qualitative Drugs Research: Reflections on the Study of Club Drug Users in Metro New York

Abstract

This paper describes the role and implications of sampling and recruitment in qualitative drugs research. To provide further detail of some issues pertaining to sampling in qualitative and ethnographic projects, the author describes recent experiences utilizing theoretical sampling and time–space sampling to study club drug users. The author details practical challenges experienced with the implementation of these sampling methodologies and with the results they produced. Attention is paid to the role that the environmental factors at clubs play in the implementation of sampling methods, issues related to network methods in recruitment, and practical implications of managing team-based recruitment strategies.

Keywords :

• Club drugs
• youth
• sampling
• recruitment
• hidden populations
• homophily

THE AUTHORS

Brian C Kelly, Ph.D., medical anthropologist is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Department Anthropology at Purdue University. He was educated as an undergraduate at Fordham University and as a graduate at Columbia University's Department of Sociomedical Sciences. His topical areas of research interest include drug use, sexual health, and youth cultures. His current research projects include club drug use among youth, methamphetamine abuse and HIV risk in China, and the abuse of prescription drugs in youth subcultures.

Glossary

• Bouncers: security personnel employed at nightclubs

• Bridge and tunnel: slang in the New York metropolitan area for youth who socialize or “party” in Manhattan but who reside in suburban neighborhoods surrounding New York City.

• Club Drugs: a range of substances, such as MDMA, Ketamine, and GHB, whose unifying classificatory principle is that they proliferated with a perceived association with club subcultures.

• Hidden Population: a population that is considered to be a segment of the general population whose membership is not readily distinguished or enumerated on the basis of existing knowledge and/or sampling capabilities.

• Homophily: a principle of social networks that indicates the tendency of individuals to associate with those similar to them.

Notes

1 This project was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R03DA016171; P.I., B. Kelly)

2 A pseudonym

3 These cards had my contact information such as phone number and e-mail address on one side and a colorful “NY Club Health” logo that I designed on the other. They were printed by the same printer who often prints flyers for special club events and raves. I thought the colorful design of these cards would better remind them of the conversation they had with me than a drab business card.

4 The cohort consisted of 28 White youth, 7 Latino youth, 3 Asian youth, and 2 youth of “mixed” race. I found it difficult to locate African-American youth from the suburbs who used club drugs. Although I believe suburban African-American club drug users certainly exist, I found them few and far between. I attribute this to several factors including that a) the suburbs surrounding New York are overwhelmingly White, b) African-American youth are less likely to use club drugs regardless of residential status, and c) that the intersection of race and class prevented me from finding such youth at NYC clubs when the combined costs of travel and cover charges tend to be prohibitive to the poor.

5 The project was initiated by my colleague Dr. Jeffrey Parsons at the Center for HIV Educational Studies & Training of the City University of New York and was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA014925; P.I., J. Parsons). My role was as Co-Investigator and Project Director.

6 Field observations of recruitment shifts were conducted by the Project Director, B. Kelly, and the Center's Director of Recruitment, sociologist Christian Grov.