ABSTRACT

Recruiting participants through gatekeepers has been widely discussed in qualitative research. However, when a sampling frame is not available, surveying through gatekeepers can also be important for quantitative studies. We used three sampling methods to survey guardians of University students: (a) a gatekeeper variant of the time-space sampling, (b) a direct postal survey to a random sample of guardians’ addresses, and (c) a phone survey of the general population. The gatekeeper survey was the most efficient, but yielded a skewed sample. Albeit skewed, the gatekeeper sample yielded the same responses as the random sample, on five theoretically important scales (N = 29 questions). In-depth personal interviews and online semi-structured questionnaires with guardians and students revealed a two-way gatekeeping mechanism within families, regulating guardians’ participation in the study. We discuss the indispensable contribution of qualitative data in our study and provide methodological suggestions for practitioners.

摘要

通过看门人招募参与者已在定性研究中得到广泛讨论。然而，当抽样框架不可用时，通过看门人进行调查对于定量研究也很重要。我们使用了三种抽样方法来调查大学生监护人：（a）时空抽样的看门人变体，（b）对监护人地址的随机样本的直接邮寄调查，以及（c）电话调查总人口。看门人调查是最有效的，但产生的样本有偏差。尽管存在偏差，但看门人样本在五个理论上重要的尺度（N = 29 个问题）上产生了与随机样本相同的响应。对监护人和学生的深入个人访谈和在线半结构化问卷揭示了家庭内部的双向把关机制，规范监护人参与研究。我们讨论了定性数据在我们的研究中不可或缺的贡献，并为从业者提供了方法论建议。