A Comment on Krokoff's 'Recruiting Representative Samples for Marital Interaction Research'

Abstract

Krokoff (1987) recently described a three-stage procedure for generat- ing representative samples of couples in marital interaction research. He encouraged investigators to: (1) draw random samples from telephone directories; (2) use direct recruitment mailings to facilitate participation; and (3) employ informational meetings in couples' homes to describe the study, collect preliminary data and deal with barriers to participation. This brief comment is directed at the first stage of Krokoff's procedure. Drawing upon marketing research, it is argued that severe sampling biases often result from directory sampling, biases nearly identical to the ones found in past research that Krokoff sought to overcome. Random-digit dialing procedures, which have become standard in survey design, are suggested as a simple and effective modification of the first step in Krokoff's recruitment strategy.