Section outline

  • Highlighted

    Lecture: Sampling

    We will have a visiting lecturer, Dr. Yea-Hung Chen, who will review approaches to sampling, focusing on approaches to hard-to-reach populations.

    Faculty:  Yea-Hung Chen, PhD

    Location:      Mission Hall 1106

    • Session Slides:

    • Session Audio/Video Recording (Access restricted to registered students):

    • Watch URL

    • Required Reading:

      Required reading:
      • Kandola D, Banner D, O’Keefe-McCarthy S, Jassal D. Sampling methods in cardiovascular nursing research: an overview. Can J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2014; 24(3):15–18.
      • Korn EL, Graubard BI. Epidemiologic studies utilizing surveys: accounting for the sampling design. Am J Public Health. 1991;81(9):1166–1173.
      • Hu SS, Balluz L, Battaglia MP, Frankel MR. Improving public health surveillance using a dual-frame survey of landline and cell phone numbers. Am J Epidemiol. 2011;173(6):703–711.
      • Firestone M, Smylie J, Maracle S, Spiller M, O’Campo P. Unmasking health determinants and health outcomes for urban First Nations using respondent-driven sampling. BMJ Open. 2014;4(7):e004978.
      Optional reading:
      • Langkjær-Bain R. The murky tale of Flint’s deceptive water data. Significance. 2017;14(2):16–21.
      • Lumley T. Analysis of complex survey samples. J Stat Softw. 2004;9(1):1–19.
      • MacKellar DA, Gallagher KM, Finlayson T, Sanchez T, Lansky A, Sullivan PS. Surveillance of HIV risk and prevention behaviors of men who have sex with men—a national application of venue-based, time-space sampling. Public Health Rep. 2007;122(Suppl 1):39–47.
      • Rothman KJ, Greenland S, Lash TL. Modern Epidemiology. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008: 146–147. [the section on generalizability]
      • Selyukh A. The daredevils without landlines — and why health experts are tracking them. NPR. May 4, 2017.

    • Assignment: 

      It is not unusual to encounter epidemiological or medical studies that use a non-probabilistic sampling scheme. For example, many randomized controlled trials use convenience sampling. Identify a research question of interest to you, the population of interest, and a study design you might use to examine the question. Explain how you might incorporate a sampling strategy into the study design (you might, for example, use respondent-driven sampling to initiate a cohort study). Briefly discuss possible logistical/practical advantages and disadvantages to this plan. Finally, discuss whether you think incorporating the sampling strategy might help (1) reduce bias in the estimation of univariate quantities (such as disease prevalence) and (2) reduce bias in the estimation of causal effects.

    • Kandola File
    • Firestone RDS File
    • Korn Surveys and accounting for sample design File
    • Hu Dual frame survey sampling File
    • Optional Reading: MacKellar Surveillance using time-density space sampling File
    • nhanes stata file
    • Session Slides File
    • NHanes data in csv format File