@article{3cb25abc7af64316bfc0845aebce9362,
title = "Method to the Madness: Tracking and Interviewing Respondents in a Longitudinal Study of Prisoner Reentry",
abstract = "After nearly four decades of growth, the number of people held in U.S. prisons has begun to decline. In an era of decarceration, social scientists need to understand prisoner reentry experiences. Longitudinal studies are one strategy to accomplish this goal. Yet, the retention of a formerly incarcerated population across waves of interviews is challenging due to their transient lifestyles and limited support systems, which may be further complicated by gang involvement. This article details the longitudinal follow-up procedures used in the LoneStar Project—a multiwave study of 802 males first interviewed in prison and reinterviewed twice in the year postrelease—to build rapport, complete interviews, and minimize attrition. We then evaluate the effectiveness of our procedures on important outcomes including interview yields, appointments, and incoming calls. Results indicate that any outgoing contact with respondents via appointment reminders and other reciprocal modes of contact lead to greater project engagement and a greater likelihood of interview completion. We conclude with relevant takeaways for researchers seeking to maximize survey participation with hard-to-reach populations.",
keywords = "gang membership, interviewing, longitudinal, prisoner reentry, retention, survey research, tracking",
author = "Chantal Fahmy and Clark, {Kendra J.} and Mitchell, {Meghan M.} and Decker, {Scott H.} and Pyrooz, {David C.}",
note = "Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by Grant No. 2014-MU-CX-0111 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The research contained in this document was coordinated in part by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (723-AR15). The contents of this article, including its opinions, findings, and conclusions, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Funding Information: Chantal Fahmy is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at San Antonio and received her PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University. Her research interests focus on prisoner reentry and reintegration, social support and health, and institutional corrections. Her recent work has been published in Criminal Justice and Behavior, Environment and Behavior , and Journal of Adolescent Health . Kendra J. Clark is a graduate student in the department of Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She received her BS in Psychology and Sociology from Baker University and her MA in Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder. Her current work examines areas of incarceration, reentry, recidivism, and gangs. Her research is supported by a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and she worked as a project staff member for the LoneStar Project—an NIJ funded study examining gangs and reentry experiences. Meghan M. Mitchell is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. She received her BS and MS from North Dakota State University and PhD in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University. Her current work examines the areas of corrections, subcultures, reentry, and inequalities. She has published in Justice Quarterly, Journal of Criminal Justice, Deviant Behavior, Criminal Justice Policy Review, Trends in Organized Crime , and Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice . Scott H. Decker is foundation professor emeritus in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. His main research interests are in gangs, violence, and active offenders. He is a Fellow in both the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. He is the author of Life in the Gang: Family, Friends and Violence (Cambridge, 1996), Policing Immigrants: Local Law Enforcement on the Front Lines (University of Chicago, 2016) and Competing for Control: Gangs and the Social Order of Prisons (Cambridge, 2019). David C. Pyrooz is associate professor of Sociology and Faculty Associate of Problem Behavior and Positive Youth Development at the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests are in the areas of gangs and criminal networks, incarceration and prisoner reentry, and developmental and life-course criminology. His recent books include Confronting Gangs: Crime and Community (Oxford, 2014), The Handbook of Gangs (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), and Competing for Control: Gangs and the Social Order of Prisons (Cambridge, 2019). 1 University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, USA 2 University of Colorado Boulder, CO, USA 3 University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA 4 Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA Chantal Fahmy, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78207, USA. Email: chantal.fahmy@utsa.edu 2019 0049124119875962 {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2019 2019 SAGE Publications After nearly four decades of growth, the number of people held in U.S. prisons has begun to decline. In an era of decarceration, social scientists need to understand prisoner reentry experiences. Longitudinal studies are one strategy to accomplish this goal. Yet, the retention of a formerly incarcerated population across waves of interviews is challenging due to their transient lifestyles and limited support systems, which may be further complicated by gang involvement. This article details the longitudinal follow-up procedures used in the LoneStar Project—a multiwave study of 802 males first interviewed in prison and reinterviewed twice in the year postrelease—to build rapport, complete interviews, and minimize attrition. We then evaluate the effectiveness of our procedures on important outcomes including interview yields, appointments, and incoming calls. Results indicate that any outgoing contact with respondents via appointment reminders and other reciprocal modes of contact lead to greater project engagement and a greater likelihood of interview completion. We conclude with relevant takeaways for researchers seeking to maximize survey participation with hard-to-reach populations. longitudinal survey research prisoner reentry retention interviewing gang membership tracking National Institute of Justice http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100005289 2014-MU-CX-0111 edited-state corrected-proof Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by Grant No. 2014-MU-CX-0111 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The research contained in this document was coordinated in part by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (723-AR15). The contents of this article, including its opinions, findings, and conclusions, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. ORCID iD Chantal Fahmy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6010-8457 Supplemental Material Supplemental material for this article is available online. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2019.",
year = "2022",
month = aug,
doi = "10.1177/0049124119875962",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "51",
pages = "1282--1324",
journal = "Sociological Methods and Research",
issn = "0049-1241",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",
number = "3",
}