Challenges in Recruiting Hidden Populations: Asian/American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual College Students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 42
  In Roundtable Session: Issues in Recruiting Participants and Collecting Data From Historically Underrepresented Populations

Abstract

This presentation will focus on the challenges in recruiting Asian/American gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) students into a study on how decisions about revealing or concealing their sexual orientation impacted their college experiences. To recruit participants, the researcher initially used traditional methods of participant recruitment, including a general call for participants (with flyers and emails distributed throughout campus), a modified form of traditional snowball sampling, and a chain referral method. In using a chain referral method, the researcher sought out individuals that were believed to be informants within the Asian/American GLB community that would ultimately help the researcher to gain access to participants. While these approaches of recruitment are traditionally taught as successful methods of recruitment, , in reality, the researcher did not find a single participant this way.

Ultimately, to find participants the researcher contacted student leaders within both Asian and GLBT student organizations. In that solicitation, the researcher offered to conduct a presentation on the experiences of either Asian GLB or GLB students of color. In return, the researcher asked for the opportunity to solicit participants at the end of the session. This method of recruitment was ultimately effective as the researcher was able to recruit all but one participant utilizing this method.

A reason that this population was difficult to recruit was due to the fact that they can be considered a hidden population. Heckathorn (1997) defines the hidden population as having:

Two characteristics: first, no sampling frame exists, so the size and boundaries of the population are unknown; and second, there exist strong privacy concerns, because membership involves stigmatized or illegal behavior, leading individuals to refuse to cooperate, or give unreliable answers to protect their privacy (p. 174).

At issue with the recruitment was the first characteristic of having no sampling frame. In addition, the privacy concerns emerged once participants were identified. It was important for the researcher to meet the participants at their own comfort level and not project the researcher’s expectations on them. Most chose to contact the researcher via email. One participant communicated primarily through text messages. In addition, because of concerns over privacy, participants were given the option to choose the location for their interviews. Several of the participants initially chose public locations but chose to move to private locations after it was clear that their privacy could be compromised.

What was evident through this research process was the fact that these hidden populations require special consideration during the recruitment process. Researchers need to think “outside the box” when developing methods for recruitment while still maintaining confidentiality and participant anonymity. In addition, researchers need to strongly consider the privacy concerns that participants may have once they chose to participate.

Author

• Mitsu Narui, The Ohio State University