Methodological Innovations online 

About: Methodological Innovations online is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Social research & Qualitative research. It has an ISSN identifier of 1748-0612. Over the lifetime, 288 publications have been published receiving 3736 citations.

Sampling Hard-to-Reach Populations with Respondent Driven Sampling

Abstract: Cost effective and targeted prevention, intervention and treatment programs for hard-to-reach populations at risk for HIV and other infections rely on the collection of quality data through biological and behavioral surveillance surveys (BBSS). Over the past decade, there has been a global expansion of BBSS to measure the prevalence of HIV and other infections, and related risk behaviors among injecting drug users, males who have sex with males, and female sex workers. However, a major challenge to sampling these hard-to-reach populations is that they are usually stigmatised and/or practice illegal behaviors which, in turn, make them difficult to access and unwilling to participate in research efforts. Over the past decade, respondent driven sampling (RDS) has become recognised as a viable option for rigorous sampling of hard-to-reach populations. This paper introduces RDS methods and describes some of the advantages and challenges to implementing and analysing surveys that use RDS.

Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA), Contradictions and Consistency Benchmarks for Model Specification:

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to address and test two assumptions on which csQCA is based, namely that csQCA will generate contradictions and low consistency scores if models are ill-specified. The first part of the paper introduces csQCA in general and as a stepwise approach. In a second part a real-life example is introduced with the purpose of illustrating how csQCA operates and as an input for a simulation in the subsequent part. The third part introduces contradictions, consistency, their interrelatedness and the assumptions which are made with regard to contradictions and consistency. Subsequently the assumptions are tested via a simulation on the basis of a csQCA analysis of over 5 million random datasets. The paper argues that researchers cannot always assume that csQCA will generate contradictions or low consistency scores when models are ill-specified. Such an assumption is only justified when csQCA applications take limitations with regard to model specification (the number of conditions and the number of cases) into account. Benchmark tables for model specification purposes are developed. Since these tables are based on a probability value of 0.5 the paper also tests the results for contradictions and consistency for the probabilities which were present in a real-life example. This test shows that the 0.5 probability generates an appropriate measure for the occurrence of contradictions and consistency indicating that the benchmark tables can be used for different applications with different distributions of 0's and 1's in the conditions and outcomes. The paper ends with a conclusion.

Actor-Network Theory and Methodology: Social Research in a More-Than-Human World:

Abstract: This article explores the methodological implications of actor-network theory for social research. Pointing to an increasing awareness of ANT in sociological discourse, but assuming that it is more widely known than well understood, the article outlines some of the key features of ANT as an approach to social life, before addressing the tricky question of how these ideas translate into methodological practice. The possibilities of the approach are illustrated by reference to the author?s own ANT-inspired historical research on the socio-material history of dairy milk in the UK, which is used as a point of reference and an example throughout. Particular attention is given to the practical method deployed in the milk study, namely documentary historiography, leading to a critical exploration of the use of ANT in the analysis of historical texts. This involves considering the nature of the relationship between texts and lived practices, and drawing out how ANT offers a distinctive way of seeing texts which challenges the standard ethnographic view of texts and fundamentally transforms the issue. Given that documentary historiography is not a method strongly associated with actor-network theory because it raises considerable methodological dilemmas, this discussion provides one particular account of how such dilemmas can be managed or overcome. Social researchers interested in the potential of actor-network theory should be able to draw upon this in exploring the possibilities of the approach for their own work.

Survey Methods for Hard-to-Reach Populations: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract: Surveys of hard to reach populations (rare, no known sampling frames) have been, for some years, the object of methodological reflection. Various methods aiming at the production of an ‘extrapolable’ sample of these populations have been proposed: time-space sampling (TSS) or time-location sampling (TLS), respondent driven sampling (RDS), or the ‘capture - recapture’ method. After defining what a hard-to reach-population is, this article provides an outline of these various approaches before going on to briefly consider the papers contained in this special issue.

A review of occupation-based social classifications for social survey research

Abstract: This article is a review of issues associated with measuring occupations and using occupation-based socio-economic classifications in social science research. The review is orientated towards researchers who undertake secondary analysis of large-scale micro-level social science datasets. This article begins with an outline of how to handle raw occupational information. This is followed by an introduction to the two main approaches to measuring occupations and a third lesser known but intellectually innovative approach. The three approaches are social class schemes, social stratification scales and the microclass approach. International comparisons are briefly described and a discussion of intersectionality with other key variables such as age and gender is provided. We are careful to emphasise that this article does not advocate the uncritical adoption of any one particular occupation-based socio-economic measure over and above other alternatives. Rather, we are advocating that researchers should choose f...