Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28924351›Full record

ArticleSubstance abuse : research and treatment2017

Moving on From Representativeness: Testing the Utility of the Global Drug Survey.

Monica J Barratt, Jason A Ferris, Renee Zahnow, Joseph J Palamar, Larissa J Maier, Adam R Winstock

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Substance abuse : research and treatment, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed.

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  19. Vaping in a Time of Pandemics: Risk Perception and Motivations for Electronic Cigarette Use.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2023
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Monica J BarrattDrug Policy Modelling Program, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Jason A FerrisInstitute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
Renee ZahnowInstitute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
Joseph J PalamarDepartment of Population Health, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Larissa J MaierUniversity of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Adam R WinstockInstitute of Epidemiology & Health Care, Faculty of Population Health Sciences, University College London.

Funding

Development of a Rapid Survey to Detect Use of New and Emerging DrugsK01DA038800 · NIDA · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · PI PALAMAR, JOSEPH J · 2015 to 2019
$879k
NIDA NIH HHS K01 DA038800
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A decline in response rates in traditional household surveys, combined with increased internet coverage and decreased research budgets, has resulted in increased attractiveness of web survey research designs based on purposive and voluntary opt-in sampling strategies. In the study of hidden or stigmatised behaviours, such as cannabis use, web survey methods are increasingly common. However, opt-in web surveys are often heavily criticised due to their lack of sampling frame and unknown representativeness. In this article, we outline the current state of the debate about the relevance of pursuing representativeness, the state of probability sampling methods, and the utility of non-probability, web survey methods especially for accessing hidden or minority populations. Our article has two aims: (1) to present a comprehensive description of the methodology we use at Global Drug Survey (GDS), an annual cross-sectional web survey and (2) to compare the age and sex distributions of cannabis users who voluntarily completed (a) a household survey or (b) a large web-based purposive survey (GDS), across three countries: Australia, the United States, and Switzerland. We find that within each set of country comparisons, the demographic distributions among recent cannabis users are broadly similar, demonstrating that the age and sex distributions of those who volunteer to be surveyed are not vastly different between these non-probability and probability methods. We conclude that opt-in web surveys of hard-to-reach populations are an efficient way of gaining in-depth understanding of stigmatised behaviours and are appropriate, as long as they are not used to estimate drug use prevalence of the general population.

Indexed as

drug usehard-to-reachhidden populationrepresentativenesssamplingWeb survey

Identifiers

PMID28924351
PMCPMC5595253

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.