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Survey technology assists health research

May 2005

Researchers based at the Health Protection Agency’s Centre for Infections, UK have recently completed a major study that pioneered the use of survey software to investigate serious sexual health issues and collect highly sensitive data from patients.

The team behind the INSIGHT (Investigation of New Seroconversions In Gay men who HIV Test) study employed the Computer-Assisted Self-Interview method (CASI) in the clinical collection of patients’ behavioural and lifestyle data. The approach has proven to be successful in gathering a high quality dataset in circumstances where reassurance of the patient is of the utmost importance.

CASI was chosen for the benefits it shares with ‘face to face’ interviewing, such as interaction and validation, and its ability to preserve the participant’s anonymity. It also eliminates the need for an interviewer and the problem of bias that is a particular issue in such a sensitive area of research. Capabilities such as question routing, automated data processing can be used to powerful effect in the research process.

The advantages of CASI were clear according to Insight’s lead researcher, Neil Macdonald, who presented a paper on the study at the recent Association of Survey Computing (ASC) conference. He said, “CASI is a very effective way of collecting sensitive data. It had a good response from patients and helped us obtain excellent information. Our qualitative research into our recruitment process was very positive.”

The study was conducted to investigate the current risk factors for HIV transmission in gay and bisexual men, which remain the group at greatest risk of HIV infection in the UK. Data was collected over a two-year period on patients’ sexual behaviour and lifestyles during the interval between their last two HIV tests. The nature of the study posed a number of challenges including the managing of a questionnaire with over 900 variables in a resource-scarce environment and the need to guarantee anonymity to patients.

INSIGHT’s CASI program was developed using Snap software, which according to Neil, was chosen for its “flexibility and ease-of-use”. The questionnaire was administered using computers located in seven Sexual Health clinics in Manchester, Brighton and London. Patients completed the CASI having received the result of their most recent HIV test and responses are submitted via email to the INSIGHT team at the HPA.

Neil first came across Snap software at a previous ASC conference when he was impressed by SurveyShop Research Manager Tamara Gooderham’s presentation on using CASI for long and complex questionnaires.