@article{39fc1e19adfe46f9951e85237d1cd283,
title = "After a disaster: Lessons in survey methodology from Hurricane Katrina",
abstract = "In 2005, the National Science Foundation funded a number of projects to study the impact of Hurricane Katrina. The current article provides an overview of several research approaches used to conduct post-Katrina research. Each method had some advantages and disadvantages. The post-disaster context meant that experience from traditional survey methods often did not apply. Comparisons of advantages and disadvantages associated with each sampling method serve to inform future post-disaster research and illuminate the limits of classical research methods.",
keywords = "Convenience sampling, Disaster research, Long-form sample survey, Purposive sampling, Short-form enumeration, Stratified random sampling",
author = "Henderson, {Tammy L.} and Maria Sirois and Angela Chen and Christopher Airriess and Swanson, {David A.} and David Banks",
note = "Funding Information: As one of several post-Katrina research projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the recipients of SGER Grant #0555136 conducted a study that: (a) gathered pre-and post-Katrina information on housing and population from 573 targeted census blocks at the epicenter of Katrina{\textquoteright}s impact on the Mississippi gulf coast that the 2000 census showed as containing people; and (b) employed a random start, systematic selection, cluster sample targeting 126 of these 573 blocks for administration of a 105-item questionnaire, such that at least 350 completed questionnaires would be obtained. The 105-item questionnaire was designed to collect retrospective information on the roles that social and kinship networks played in determining respondents{\textquoteright} success (i.e., the capacity for respondents to sustain their physical and emotion needs after Hurricane Katrina). Funding Information: In December 2005, the National Science Foundation funded Grant Number REC-0555934 to conduct research on a stratified random sample of people who had resided in New Orleans, Louisiana before Hurricane Katrina. The purpose was to identify the factors that led people to evacuate before Katrina struck and discover what variables affected people{\textquoteright}s post-disaster experience. The answers to these Funding Information: The National Science Foundation funded a project (HSD #0650909) to examine how aging adults made decisions and functioned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The study sample included displaced persons and long-term residents of Baton Rouge and the surrounding region who fit into these three categories: (a) aging adults who were 60 years or older; (b) grandparents 50 years or older who were parenting their grandchildren; and (c) caregivers of an aging adult who was 60 years or older. Using the life course perspective (Elder 1977) and the ecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner 1986), this research team examined the functioning of aging families in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Personal interviews with a series of structured close-ended questions was used to elicit information in five areas: (a) demographic information; (b) health and psychosocial functioning; (c) reliance on family members, friends, and community services; (f) family decision-making; and (e) family functioning. Funding Information: Regardless of the advantage of convenience sampling there were added research challenges, which largely was an artifact of conducting research during a crisis. When conducting a study on aging adults displaced by Hurricane Katrina funded by the National Science Foundation, researchers found convenience sampling was difficult to manage. These challenges were in three areas: (a) research collaborations caused additional stress for agencies and faith-based institutions, (b) clearance authorizations influenced interviews with residents living in FEMA trailers, and (c) intensive administrative tasks were heightened. Funding Information: Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank other contributors to this manuscript. Additional regard goes to RAND Corporation and the National Science Foundation for their vision for and support in developing manuscripts on methodological challenges in the midst of a natural disaster. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science.",
year = "2009",
doi = "10.1007/s11113-008-9114-5",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "28",
pages = "67--92",
journal = "Population Research and Policy Review",
issn = "0167-5923",
publisher = "Springer Netherlands",
number = "1",
}