What to consider when surveying hard-to-reach populations?

Representativeness vs. representation is a key consideration when surveying the hard-to-reach. Here’re 3 design issues:

1. Representativeness refers to the statistical context and representation focuses on visibility. For groups small in number, non-survey methods could provide greater representation, e.g., qualitative & participatory methods (but NOT representativeness). Also consider mixed methods, i.e., quantitative + qualitative.
2. Hard-to-reach can also be hard to sample/contact/encourage. Even if you’ve had lived experience with the target population, your current reality may no longer reflect theirs, so consult the literature + key informants.
3. If part of the data can be matched from administrative records, don’t ask them in the survey. Reduce burden to get better reach and cooperation from the hard-to-reach!

SEE ALSO:

What to know about data collection in a multilingual context?

What to do before pretesting data collection instruments?

How to engage hard-to-reach research participants with respect?

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