Methodological Issues in AIDS Behavioral Research / Edition 1

by David G. Ostrow, Ronald C. Kessler

Overview

Methodological problems have hampered researchers' efforts to understand and control AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic. This practical book addresses these problems by using actual health research case studies to develop strategies regarding design and sampling, measurement, and analysis and modeling issues. Researchers working on both biological and behavioral aspects of the disease will find this work a singularly effective tool to improve their study designs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306444395
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	10/31/1993
Series:	Aids Prevention and Mental Health
Edition description:	1993
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

Ostrow, David G., MD, PhD (Univ of Michigan); Kessler, Ronald C., PhD (Univ of Michigan)

The contributors represent the specialties of AIDS prevention, epidemiology, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, medical ethics, and education. Most come from U.S. academic centers. Institutions prominently represented include UCSF, Columbia, Univ of Michigan, Harvard, Univ of Pennsylvania, and the National Institute of Mental Health.

Table of Contents

Design, Measurement, and Analysis Issues in AIDS Mental Health Research.- Design and Sampling Issues.- Ethical Issues and Approaches in AIDS Research.- Sampling Considerations in Research on HIV Risk and Illness.- Quasiexperimental Designs in AIDS Psychosocial Research.- Measurement Issues.- Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Techniques to Develop Culturally Sensitive Measures.- Understanding Sexual Behaviors and Drug Use among African-Americans.- Response Bias in Surveys of AIDS-Related Sexual Behavior.- Recollection in the Kingdom of AIDS.- Comments on Croyle and Loftus’s Recollections in the Kingdom of AIDS.- Analysis and Modeling Issues.- Using Surveillance Data for Assessing and Projecting the AIDS Epidemic.- Comment on De Gruttola and Pagano’s Using Surveillance Data for Assessing and Projecting the AIDS Epidemic.- Analytic Methods for Estimating HIV-Treatment and Cofactor Effects.- The Design and Analysis of Partner Studies of HIV Transmission.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Mary Utne O'Brien, PhD (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Description: This book, by leading survey research methodologists and HIV/AIDS researchers, seeks to present classic issues in survey research methods as they apply to the study of HIV/AIDS.
Purpose: The authors' goal is to provide timely guidance on research tools and issues in their application to beginning and advanced researchers and interventionists working in behavioral and psychosocial approaches to HIV/AIDS.
Audience: The stated target audience includes practitioners (interventionists) and beginning researchers, but individual chapters, especially by the survey research experts (e.g., Kalton on sampling, Kessler on designs), are dense with detail that will likely be only dimly perceived by neophyte researchers. Presented by an experienced researcher in a classroom context, however, the book would be excellent for graduate students in epidemiology (methods and/or HIV/AIDS), sociology, etc., and forexperienced researcher s new to applications in HIV/AIDS. It is not as useful as it might be for the much larger audience of consumers (not producers) of HIV/AIDS behavioral research, who must judge that vast majority of studies that do not meet the standards for research described here. It would have been helpful if the authors had described the particular considerations and caveats for specific violations of ideal research approaches.
Features: The contributors include the leading survey researchers and applied methodologists of the day, including Kalton on sampling, Kessler on design, and Loftus on memory. The chapter by Zeller on combining qualitative and quantitative methods is a model of methodological sophistication, good sense, and grounded examples, showing great knowledge of the HIV/AIDS research arena. Almost across-the-board, references are timely and on-target.
Assessment: This book's issues and their treatment are first-rate and important. The table of contents and index allow easy perusal and access to topics. It is visually appealing and written at a very high and clear level.

Doody's Review Service

Reviewer: Mary Utne O'Brien, PhD(University of Illinois at Chicago)
Description: This book, by leading survey research methodologists and HIV/AIDS researchers, seeks to present classic issues in survey research methods as they apply to the study of HIV/AIDS.
Purpose: The authors' goal is to provide timely guidance on research tools and issues in their application to beginning and advanced researchers and interventionists working in behavioral and psychosocial approaches to HIV/AIDS.
Audience: The stated target audience includes practitioners (interventionists) and beginning researchers, but individual chapters, especially by the survey research experts (e.g., Kalton on sampling, Kessler on designs), are dense with detail that will likely be only dimly perceived by neophyte researchers. Presented by an experienced researcher in a classroom context, however, the book would be excellent for graduate students in epidemiology (methods and/or HIV/AIDS), sociology, etc., and forexperienced researcher s new to applications in HIV/AIDS. It is not as useful as it might be for the much larger audience of consumers (not producers) of HIV/AIDS behavioral research, who must judge that vast majority of studies that do not meet the standards for research described here. It would have been helpful if the authors had described the particular considerations and caveats for specific violations of ideal research approaches.
Features: The contributors include the leading survey researchers and applied methodologists of the day, including Kalton on sampling, Kessler on design, and Loftus on memory. The chapter by Zeller on combining qualitative and quantitative methods is a model of methodological sophistication, good sense, and grounded examples, showing great knowledge of the HIV/AIDS research arena. Almost across-the-board, references are timely and on-target.
Assessment: This book's issues and their treatment are first-rate and important. The table of contents and index allow easy perusal and access to topics. It is visually appealing and written at a very high and clear level.

Initiates a series synthesizing current findings for researchers in HIV prevention and mental health, clinicians, policymakers, and educators. Addressing how quantitative behavioral research can best contribute to the battle against AIDS and the suspected etiologic agent, HIV, the AIDS Research Methodology Project reports the findings from its 1987-90 study. They consider issues of design and sampling, measurement, and analysis and modeling. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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