A Repeated Observation Approach for Estimating the Street Homeless Population

Autor/in	Berry, Brent
Titel	A Repeated Observation Approach for Estimating the Street Homeless Population
Quelle	In: Evaluation Review, 31 (2007) 2, S.166-199 (34 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0193-841X
DOI	10.1177/0193841X06296947
Schlagwörter	Probability; Identification; Sampling; Homeless People; Demography; Ethnography; Foreign Countries; Background; Computation; Research Methodology; Data Collection; Social Science Research; Research Problems; Canada; Canada (Toronto) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung; Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie; Identifikation; Identifizierung; Homeless person; Homeless persons; Obdachloser; Demografie; Ethnografie; Ausland; Hintergrundinformation; Research method; Forschungsmethode; Data capture; Datensammlung; Social scientific research; Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung; Forschungskritik; Kanada
Abstract	Risks of life on the street caused by inclement weather, harassment, and assault threaten the unsheltered homeless population. We address some challenges of enumerating the street homeless population by testing a novel capture-recapture (CR) estimation approach that models individuals' intermittent daytime visibility. We tested walking and vehicle-based variants of CR in downtown Toronto in March. Estimates that assume individual variability of sighting probabilities are most consistent with our knowledge of the homeless and achieve the most favorable confidence intervals, estimated detection probabilities, and coefficient of variation. Estimation bias from interobserver discrepancies, duplicate counting, and violation of the closed population assumption were minimized with uniform identification criteria, training, and sampling design. Bias caused by the social grouping of the homeless was small. Despite the limitations of visual identification, CR approaches as part of a multiple-method program can aid community responses to immediate needs on the street, especially during the harsh winter months. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures, and 13 notes.) (Author).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10