Browsing by Author "Erbaugh, Elizabeth B."

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    A Comparison of Network Sampling Designs for a Hidden Population of Drug Users: Random Walk vs. Respondent-Driven Sampling
    (Elsevier, 2016) Bell, David C.; Erbaugh, Elizabeth B.; Serrano, Tabitha; Dayton-Shotts, Cheryl A.; Montoya, Isaac D.; Department of Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Both random walk and respondent-driven sampling (RDS) exploit social networks and may reduce biases introduced by earlier methods for sampling from hidden populations. Although RDS has become much more widely used by social researchers than random walk (RW), there has been little discussion of the tradeoffs in choosing RDS over RW. This paper compares experiences of implementing RW and RDS to recruit drug users to a network-based study in Houston, Texas. Both recruitment methods were implemented over comparable periods of time, with the same population, by the same research staff. RDS methods recruited more participants with less strain on staff. However, participants recruited through RW were more forthcoming than RDS participants in helping to recruit members of their social networks. Findings indicate that, dependent upon study goals, researchers' choice of design may influence participant recruitment, participant commitment, and impact on staff, factors that may in turn affect overall study success.
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    "Nobody asked if I was ok:" C-section experiences of mothers who wanted a birth with limited medical intervention
    (2014) Van Busum, Kelly M.; Foote, Carrie E.; Haas, Linda; Erbaugh, Elizabeth B.
    This thesis project aims to address the following question: How do women who were planning a vaginal birth with limited medical intervention experience an unplanned c-section? Specifically, this research project involved: completing in-depth interviews with 15 women who planned a vaginal birth with limited medical intervention but instead experienced an unplanned c-section between six months and two years ago; discovering and describing the nature of the birth the mothers originally envisioned for their child; exploring the women’s experiences with, and feelings about, the birth itself and how it might differ from what they envisioned; developing a better understanding of how these experiences and feelings affected the women during the first two years following the birth; describing any challenges they faced and how, if at all, they managed such challenges; and identifying strategies that could be used to improve the experience of women recovering from an unplanned c-section who envisioned a vaginal birth with limited medical intervention.