Jg. Zapka et al., METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES FOR HEALTH-RELATED SURVEYS OF MULTICULTURAL OLDER WOMEN, Evaluation & the health professions, 17(4), 1994, pp. 485-500
Given concerns about survey nonresponse bias as well as the need to pl
an resources for participant recruitment, this study tracked each step
of the recruitment process (location, response, consent, and completi
on) of sociodemographically diverse older women for a survey concernin
g mammography experience. Younger, less educated poor women were likel
y to be lost due to inability to locate them, while older middle- and
upper-economic-group women were more likely to be lost due to refusal
to participate. Hispanic and Black women were significantly more likel
y to respond on successive attempts to recruit them than were White, n
on-Hispanic women. There was no significant difference in refusal rate
s by minority women over the successive contacts, as contrasted with W
hite women, who refused at significantly higher rates with each attemp
t.