Ethnographic Sources
Fifteen ethnographers, epidemiologists, 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
about the activity. It is important to understand that ethnography
is not undercover work. The ethnographer, a social scientist fully
revealed as someone doing research, enters the drug user's world,
records and describes 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 epidemiologists with access to ethnographic information; a few
are social researchers working in a field site collecting
ethnographic data. For this Pulse Check we have added a new
reporter from Baltimore, Maryland.
Police Sources
Police sources are derived 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 nine cities.
Treatment Providers
The sample of treatment providers is derived from the
directory of programs compiled by the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (NIDA). We have divided the NIDA listings into four regions.
The states comprising each region are listed on the Treatment
Provider Summary Tables for each drug (Tables 3, 6, and 9). Each
region has a similar number of treatment programs, so the four
regions are treated equally for sampling. The original sample
based on the 1991 National Drug Abuse Treatment Unit Survey has
been refreshed using the more recent files. From each region, 20
to 25 programs are identified and ten are contacted. The remainder
serve as replacements. The samples are stratified to include equal
numbers of small (under 100 clients) and large programs. This
round of calls reached 32 treatment providers.
