Abstract
BackgroundMany respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methodologies have been employed to investigate hard-to-reach populations; however, these methodologies present some limits. We describe a minimally investigated RDS methodology in which peer recruitment and interviewing are phone-based. The feasibility of the methodology, field experiences, validity of RDS assumptions and characteristics of the sample obtained are discussed.MethodsWe conducted a phone-based RDS survey among men who have sex with men (MSM) aged 18 or above and living in Côte d’Ivoire. Eight initial MSM across Côte d’Ivoire were selected. Participants were asked to call a hotline to be registered and interviewed by phone. After the participants completed the questionnaire, they were asked to recruit a maximum of 3 MSM from their acquaintances.ResultsDuring the 9 months of the survey, 576 individuals called the hotline, and 518 MSM completed the questionnaire. The median delay between the invitation to participate and the completion of the questionnaire by peer-recruited MSM was 4 days [IQR: 1–12]. The recruitment process was not constant, with high variation in the number of people who called the hotline during the survey period.RDS chain convergence to equilibrium was reached within 6 waves for most of the selected variables. For the network size estimation assumption, participants who incorrectly estimated their network size were observed.Regarding the sample obtained, MSM were recruited from all the regions of Côte d’Ivoire with frequent interregional recruitment; 23.5% of MSM were recruited by someone who does not live in the same region. Compared to the MSM who participated in two other surveys in Côte d’Ivoire, the MSM in our sample were less likely to know about an MSM non-governmental organisation. However, MSM aged 30 years old and above and those with a low level of education were underrepresented in our sample.ConclusionWe show that phone-based RDS surveys among MSM are feasible in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. Compared to other classical RDS survey methodologies, the phone-based RDS methodology seems to reduce selection bias based on geography and proximity with the MSM community. However, similar to other methodologies, phone-based RDS fails to reach older and less-educated MSM.
Highlights
Many respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methodologies have been employed to investigate hard-toreach populations; these methodologies present some limits
We show that phone-based RDS surveys among men who have sex with men (MSM) are feasible in the context of sub-Saharan Africa
Compared to other classical RDS survey methodologies, the phone-based RDS methodology seems to reduce selection bias based on geography and proximity with the MSM community
Summary
Many respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methodologies have been employed to investigate hard-toreach populations; these methodologies present some limits. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a popular methodology for biological and behavioural surveillance among hard-to-reach or hidden populations [1,2,3,4]. This methodology is suitable for the investigation of small communities or those subject to discrimination (who hide their belonging to the community) [5]. The first theorem states that as the recruitment process continues (i.e., as the number of recruitment waves increases), the cumulative proportion of an individual’s characteristics in a sample will tend to stabilise around an equilibrium, regardless of the characteristics of the initially recruited subjects (i.e., referred to as the “seeds”). The equilibrium often stabilised between 5 and 10 waves, or even much later in some cases [8]
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