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Pulse Check
National Trends in Drug Abuse
Spring 1996
Ethnographic Sources
Seventeen ethnographers, epidIiologists, and other ethnographic sources from urban areas
were interviewed for this issue of Pulse Check. Ethnography is a qualitative research technique
which, unlike highly structured observation methods, observes and records activity "on its own
terms," that is, without predetermined ideas. Ethnography is not undercover work. Rather,
the ethnographer, who is fully revealed as a social science researcher, enters the drug userūs
world to record and describe it.
The ethnographic sources contacted by Pulse Check this quarter include some of the best
known drug researchers in the country. In some cases, they are trained ethnographers; in other
cases, they are epidIiologists with access to ethnographic information; a few are social
researchers working in a field site collecting ethnographic data.
Police Sources
Police sources are drawn from the Abt staff's existing contacts within law enforcement and
from contacts developed through the recommendations of law enforcement agencies. These
sources are typically officers working on special squads, narcotics task forces, and DEA agents.
This round of calls reached police sources in ten cities.
Treatment Providers
The sample of treatment providers is derived from the directory of programs compiled by
the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The NIDA listings are divided into four regions
that have a similar number of treatment programs and are treated equally for sampling. The
original sample based on the 1991 National Drug Abuse Treatment Unit Survey has been
updated using the more recent NIDA files. From each region, 20 to 25 programs are identified,
10 are contacted, and the rIainder serve as replacIents. The samples are stratified to include
equal numbers of small (under 100 clients) and large programs. This round of calls reached 50
treatment providers. The states in each region are listed below.
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Region I: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania
Region II: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia,
Washington, D.C., West Virginia
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Region III: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas,
Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
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Region IV: Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, California, Idaho,
New Mexico, Washington, Oregon
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