Participatory Survey Research Integrating Community Collaboration and Quantitative Methods for the Study of Gender and HIV Risks Among Hispanic Migrants

• Published in: Sociological methods & research Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 204 - 239
• Main Authors: Parrado, Emilio A., McQuiston, Chris, Flippen, Chenoa A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.11.2005; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Collaboration; Community; Community Research; Gender; Health; Hispanic Americans; History, theory and methodology; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Immigrants; Immigration; Medical sciences; Methodology; Mexican Americans; Mexicans; Miscellaneous; Noncitizens; Participation; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Quantitative analysis; Quantitative Methods; Research Design; Research methods; Research Subjects; Risk factors; Sampling; Social research; Sociological research; Sociology; Surveys; North Carolina; Central America; Mexico; United States; North America; America; Durham North Carolina; United States > US; participatory research; mixed methodology; survey research; immigrant health; Mexicans; Public Health; Immigrant; Methodology; Sex; AIDS; Community Research; Cooperative research; Quantitative Analysis; Collaboration; Strategy; Ethnic community; Mexican-American; Hazard; Infection; Social sciences; Viral disease; Community participation; Community health; Research
• ISSN: 0049-1241; 1552-8294; 1552-8294
• DOI: 10.1177/0049124105280202

This article outlines a research strategy for studying difficult-to-reach migrant populations that combines community collaboration, targeted random sampling, and parallel sampling in sending and receiving areas. The authors describe how this methodology was applied to the study of gender, migration, and HIV risks among Hispanic migrants in Durham, North Carolina. They illustrate the usefulness of community collaboration for informing survey design and providing a contextual understanding of research findings. They likewise demonstrate the importance of parallel sampling and assess the bias that would have resulted from conducting their study with convenience samples as opposed to a targeted random sampling technique. While the authors describe its application to HIV risks among Hispanic migrants, the methodology can easily be extended to other migrant groups as well as to other sensitive topics pertaining to migration and social adaptation.