AEA 2003 HOT on the TRAIL Minimizing Participant Attrition Over Time Catherine Callow-Heusser Lori A. Roggman Katie Christiansen O. Rich Sharp

2AEA 2003  Why Minimize Attrition? Attrition can diminish measurable intervention effects  Reduce intervention dosage of treatment group participants  Introduce non-response bias Create non-equivalent groups Result in loss of a disproportionate number of certain groups/characteristics of participants  Reduce statistical power  Threaten internal/external validity

3AEA 2003 Minimizing Participant Attrition  Planned methods and organized record keeping  Regular participant contact  Supplemental contact information  Incentives  Detailed tracking/contact history  Interviewer characteristics  Persistence!

4AEA 2003  Planned Methods & Organized Records  Establish participant-friendly retention strategies  Collect detailed contact information  Focus on social networks, community contacts  Maintain organized contact history logs (i.e., electronic database)

5AEA 2003  Regular Contact  Advance letters to schedule interviews  Phone interviews  In-home interviews, observations  Mailings: Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving  Return of forwarding address requested  New address/phone postcard included  Incentives to return new contact information  Gift certificate  Video copies

6AEA 2003  Supplemental Contact Information  Participants’  addresses  Schools attended  Employment  Driver’s license number  Car license plate  Social security number  Name, address, home/cell phone numbers  Participants  Parents  Close relatives  Friends  Neighbors

7AEA 2003 Incentives  Value of participant involvement in research  Treatment group participation in intervention  Interview stipends  Copies of videos of focus child  Access to final research findings  Access to services at some later time

8AEA 2003  Detailed Tracking/Contact History  Contact attempts at each time point  Changes in participant and supplemental contact information  Name changes  Database of all participant, supplemental contact information over time  Identification of supplemental contacts who are also participants in the study

9AEA 2003  Interviewer Characteristics  Interviewer characteristics may be a strong influence on participant retention  Interviewers should be  Able to develop rapport Non-judgmental, accepting, sensitive Pleasant, concerned, interested  Persistent when faced with frustrating barriers  Tenacious, organized, detailed, and thorough  Potentially matched on gender, religion

10AEA 2003 Persistence!  Reiterate  Value of research  Protection of participants’ rights, privacy  Incentives  Call/visit  Supplemental contacts  Neighbors  Co-workers  Drive by—don’t just leave phone messages  Follow through without getting discouraged

11AEA 2003  Story Time  Follow the trail: To prison and beyond  Pay attention to artifacts, community clues  Newspaper articles (e.g., saving the goose)  Wedding, recognized employee, new business announcements  Community communication (e.g., , radio)  Disregard non-responsiveness—keep trying!  Depressed participants  Participants busy surviving

12AEA 2003 Results! USU’s Early Head Start Longitudinal Research  Children and their families were followed from child’s birth through kindergarten entry  Randomly assigned to program/comparison groups  At final data collection time point  5 of the original 201 families were permanently removed from research, leaving 196 families (e.g., child death, custody change, returned to India)  Data was collected from 172 of 196 research families  15 refused but contact was made  1 location was known but unable to contact (e.g. out of the country, in prison, in military serving overseas)  9 families were lost

13AEA 2003  Contact Information Catherine Callow-Heusser 2810 Old Main Hill Utah State University Logan, UT Lori Roggman 2905 Old Main Hill Utah State University Logan, UT