Comparison of Direct Estimate and Partner Elicitation Methods for Measuring the Number of Sexual and Injection Partners

Paper presented at the 126th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, November 16, 1998, Washington, DC

23 Pages Posted: 15 Jan 2015

See all articles by Devon D. Brewer

Devon D. Brewer

Interdisciplinary Scientific Research

John Potterat

Independent

Sharon Garrett

University of Washington

Stephen Muth

Quintus-ential Solutions

John Roberts

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Richard V Rothenberg

Global AI Co; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Global Algorithmic Institute

Date Written: January 12, 2015

Abstract

The number of sex partners and number of injection partners an individual has are risk factors for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, respectively. The most common method for measuring the number of partners is the direct estimate, in which respondents are simply asked to estimate the number of partners for a given recall period (e.g., “how many people have you had sex with in the last year?”). We assessed the intermethod and test-retest reliability of the direct estimate, described subjects’ direct estimate response strategies and processes, and indirectly evaluated the validity of the direct estimate in data from two studies of persons at presumed high risk for HIV.

The direct estimate showed moderate to high levels of test-retest reliability, as did the number of partners recalled when a respondent was asked to list partners by name or description. The correspondence between the two methods, though, tended to be somewhat lower. Across measurement methods, the number of sex partners was more reliably measured than the number of injection/needle-sharing partners with respect to most, but not all, reliability criteria. A large majority of respondents in one study reported using enumeration as a response strategy for the direct estimate. Direct estimates also showed a noteworthy degree of heaping on multiples of five that was not present in the number recalled. Based on comparisons with the estimated mean number of new partners for a comparable period (derived from counts of recalled partners first encountered between two separate interviews), the direct estimate seemed to provide a better estimate of the true mean number of partners (for all respondents) than the number recalled. Nevertheless, both the direct estimate and the number recalled still appeared to underestimate substantially the true number of partners.

Note: Reference 9 is not available, but a subsequent article includes more comprehensive material on the topic: Roberts, J. M., Jr., & Brewer, D. D. (2001). Measures and tests of heaping in discrete quantitative distributions. Journal of Applied Statistics, 28, 887-896.

Keywords: measurement, survey methods, social networks, epidemiology

JEL Classification: C42,C80, C99, I18

Suggested Citation

Brewer, Devon D. and Potterat, John and Garrett, Sharon and Muth, Stephen and Roberts, John and Rothenberg, Richard V, Comparison of Direct Estimate and Partner Elicitation Methods for Measuring the Number of Sexual and Injection Partners (January 12, 2015). Paper presented at the 126th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, November 16, 1998, Washington, DC, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2548807 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2548807

Devon D. Brewer (Contact Author)

Interdisciplinary Scientific Research ( email )

P.O. Box 15110
Seattle, WA 98115
United States
206-985-2398 (Phone)
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HOME PAGE: http://www.interscientific.net

Sharon Garrett

University of Washington ( email )

Seattle, WA 98195
United States

Stephen Muth

Quintus-ential Solutions ( email )

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Colorado Springs, CO 80903
United States

John Roberts

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee ( email )

Bolton Hall 802
3210 N. Maryland Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53211
United States

Richard V Rothenberg

Global AI Co ( email )

HOME PAGE: http://www.globalai.co

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ( email )

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Berkeley, CA 94720
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.lbl.gov

Global Algorithmic Institute ( email )

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Ste 5711
New York, NY 10002
United States
9173997840 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.global-ai.org

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