Methodological Issues in AIDS Surveys (From AIDS: The Second Decade, P 359-471, 1990, Heather G Miller, Charles F Turner, et al., eds. -- See 131958)

• NCJ Number: 131962
• Author(s): P W Blumstein; R M Dawes; S Lindenbaum; L Rudkin-Miniot; J L Sorensen; C F Turner; J A Wiley
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 113 pages
• Sale Source: National Academies Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter, which contains AIDS-related recommendations by the Committee on AIDS Research and the Behavioral, Social, and Statistical Sciences ("The Committee"), focuses on the nature, validity, and reliability of surveys on the epidemiology of AIDS and HIV, the behaviors that spread HIV, and the effectiveness of AIDS prevention efforts.

Abstract

Although there is ample evidence of error and bias in existing surveys of sexual behavior, promising conclusions can be drawn from surveys to date. First, surveys of sexual and drug-use behavior can enlist the cooperation of a significant majority of the American public. Second, the recent literature indicates two instances in which independently conducted surveys of aspects of sexual behavior (age of first intercourse and number of sexual partners in past year) produced similar results. Third, although it is difficult to obtain convincing evidence of measurement validity in most sexual-behavior and drug-use surveys, the research literature contains several significant demonstrations of the validity of behavioral measures. Finally, there is a large body of research that addresses the consistency of responses over short periods in survey reports on various aspects of sexual behaviors. Among its pertinent recommendations, the Committee proposes that the Public Health Service and other organizations provide increased support for methodological research on the measurement of behaviors that transmit HIV. 340 references