Abstract
Little is known about bereaved persons who refuse to participate in bereavement research, although participants have been assumed to be representative of the bereaved. This assumption is examined in a study of older women in their first, second, or third year of widowhood. To identify sources of sample bias, data from deceased husbands' death certificates (N = 2,331) were used to compare respondents and nonrespondents at stages in the recruitment process: assumed located, returned reply card, agreed to hear more, wished to participate, eligible, and interviewed. The low participation rate (N= 376) did not produce a major bias, although small, statistically significant differences in deceased husband's age, race, education, place and cause of death were revealed. Differences by recruitment stage were observed, as were differences by cohort. Recent widows were more likely to participate. Implications for achieving representative samples are discussed.
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