SAMPLING ISSUES IN A REGIONAL PEDIATRIC PRACTICE-BASED NETWORK

This paper explores various approaches to achieving representative and generalizable practice-based data. The data used were derived from or iginal research conducted by the Pediatric Practice Research Group (PP RG), a research consortium including full-time staff at Children's Mem orial Hospital and 132 practitioners in 35 Chicago-area practices in a variety of settings ranging from Chicago's inner city to rural northw est Indiana. Sampling issues addressed include sampling frame, source (population or practice), geographical representation, seasonal repres entation, survey instrument design, socioeconomic diversity, and conta ct and response rates.