THE NEW-ZEALAND PARTNER RELATIONS SURVEY - METHODOLOGICAL RESULTS OF A NATIONAL TELEPHONE SURVEY

Objective: To implement and evaluate a national survey of sexual behav iour using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). Design: A two-stage stratified national sample survey in which households were s elected by random digit-dialling (RDD), with a single eligible intervi ewee per selected household, followed by subsample surveys of non-cont acts and refusals to determine eligibility. Methods: A 15-minute quest ionnaire based on the Global Programme on AIDS (GPA)/World Health Orga nization (WHO) protocol was administered by telephone to a nationally representative sample of 2361 respondents in the 18-54-year age group. Results: The overall response rate was 63%, but lower in the cities, in the 18-24 age group, and among men. Three-quarters of surveyed non- contacts, and a quarter of resurveyed refusals, did not meet the eligi bility criteria for the study. Less than 20% of refusals cited the sub ject matter of the survey as the reason for refusal. Item non-response (< 1%) increased with question sensitivity, and varied by respondent age, ethnicity and partnership status. Men reported twice as many adul t lifetime partners as women. Conclusions: The GPA/WHO protocol can be successfully adapted to administration by telephone, with adequate re sponse rates and exceptionally low levels of item non-response. CATI i s a cost-effective method for collecting national information on sexua l behaviour in countries where there is a high level of telephone owne rship. Used in conjunction with RDD, it can overcome problems of sampl e design in settings where there is no comprehensive population-sampli ng frame. Checks on item sensitivity and partner estimates suggest tha t acceptable levels of reliability can also be achieved.