A pilot study using the internet to study patterns of party drug use: processes, findings and limitations
Corresponding Author
PETER G. MILLER
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Peter G. Miller PhD, and Senior Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, 4 Windsor Walk, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel: +44 207 7848 0026; E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorJENNIFER JOHNSTON
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Jennifer Johnston PhD, Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorPAUL R. McELWEE
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Paul R. McElwee B.Inf.Tech, Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorRICK NOBLE
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Rick Noble IT manager, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
PETER G. MILLER
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Peter G. Miller PhD, and Senior Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, 4 Windsor Walk, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel: +44 207 7848 0026; E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorJENNIFER JOHNSTON
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Jennifer Johnston PhD, Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorPAUL R. McELWEE
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Paul R. McElwee B.Inf.Tech, Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorRICK NOBLE
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Rick Noble IT manager, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Since the 1990s there has been a rise in both the prevalence of party drug use in Australia and the use of party drug-related websites. This study investigates whether it is feasible to recruit and survey party drug users via the internet. It took place in Victoria, Australia. Participants were directed to a website where they completed a brief, structured internet-based survey. A total of 460 responses were received over 31 days, 393 of which fitted all inclusion criteria. The sample consisted predominately of young, male polydrug users and is one of the largest samples of party drug users in Australia reported thus far. It was concluded that it is feasible to recruit and survey current party drug users via the internet and that this method is quicker and cheaper than traditional survey methods, although samples are not necessarily representative of the party drug-using population. Other limitations and advantages are discussed.
References
- 1 Fry C., Miller P. Victorian drug trends 2001: findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS). NDARC Technical Report no. 129. Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, 2002.
- 2 Coomber R. The adulteration of drugs: what dealers do to illicit drugs, and what they think is done to them. Addict Res 1997; 5: 297–306.
- 3 Duncan DF, White JB, Nicholson T. Using internet-based surveys to reach hidden populations: case of nonabusive illicit drug users. Am J Health Behav 2003; 27: 208–18.
- 4 McCabe S., Boyd C., Couper MP, Crawford S., DArcy H. Mode effects for collecting alcohol and other drug use data: web and U.S. mail. J Stud Alcohol 2002; 63: 755–62.
- 5 Parrott AC, Buchanan T., Scholey AB, Heffernan T., Ling J., Rodgers J. Ecstasy/MDMA attributed problems reported by novice, moderate and heavy recreational users. Hum Psychopharmacol 2002; 17: 309–12.
- 6 Reneau J., Nicholson T., White JB, Duncan D. The general well-being of recreational drug users: a survey on the WWW. Int J Drug Policy 2000; 11: 315–23.
- 7 Tourangeau R., Couper MP, Steiger DM. Humanizing self-administered surveys: experiments on social presence in web and IVR surveys. Comput Hum Behav 2003; 19: 1–24.
- 8 Crawford S., McCabe S., Couper M., Boyd C. From mail to web: improving response rates and data collection efficiencies. In: International Conference on Improving Surveys, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2002.
- 9 Elford J., Bolding G., Sherr L. Seeking sex on the Internet and sexual risk behaviour among gay men using London gyms. Aids 2001; 15: 1409–15.
- 10 Scholey AB, Parrott AC, Buchanan T., Heffernan TM, Ling J., Rodgers J. Increased intensity of ecstasy and polydrug usage in the more experienced recreational ecstasy/MDMA users: a WWW study. Addict Behav 2004; 29: 743–52.
- 11 Elford JP, Bolding GM, Davis MMA, Sherr LP, Hart GP. Web-based behavioral surveillance among men who have sex with men: a comparison of online and offline samples in London, UK. J AIDS 2004; 35: 421–6.
- 12 Coomber R. Using the internet for survey research. Sociol Res Online 1997; 2.
- 13 Boyd CJ, McCabe SE, DArcy H. Ecstasy use among college undergraduates: gender, race and sexual identity. J Subst Abuse Treat 2003; 24: 209–15.
- 14 Tourangeau R., Couper MP, Steiger DM. Social presence in web surveys. Web SM; 2003. Available at: http:www.fcsm.gov01papersTourangeau.pdf.
- 15 Rodgers J., Buchanan T., Scholey AB, Heffernan TM, Ling J., Parrott AC. Differential effects of ecstasy and cannabis on self-reports of memory ability: a web-based study. Hum Psychopharmacol Clin Exp 2003; 16: 619–25.
- 16 Schonlau M., Fricker RD, Elliott MN. Conducting research surveys via e-mail and the web. New York: RAND, 2001.
- 17 American Association for Public Opinion Research. Best practices for survey and public opinion research and survey practices, 1997. Available at: http:www.aapor.orgbest_practices_for_survey_and_public_opinion_research.asp.
- 18 Schmidt WC. World-Wide Web survey research: benefits, potential problems, and solutions. Behav Res Meth Instr Comput 1997; 29: 274–9.
- 19 Cho CH. Factors influencing clicking of banner ads on the WWW. Cyberpsychol Behav 2003; 6: 201–15.
- 20 Stanton JM. An empirical assessment of data collection using the internet. Personnel Psychol 1998; 51: 709–25.
- 21 Schillewaert N., Langerak F., Duhamel T. Non-probability sampling for WWW surveys: a comparison of methods. J Market Res Soc 1998; 40: 307–22.
- 22 Joinson A. Social desirability, anonymity, and internet-based questionnaires. Behav Res Meth Instr Comput 1999; 31: 433–8.
- 23 Nicholson T., White J., Duncan DF. A survey of adult recreational drug use via the World Wide Web: the DRUGNET study. J Psychoact Drugs 1999; 31: 415–22.
- 24 Lenton S., Boys A., Norcross K. Raves, drugs and experience: drug use by a sample of people who attend raves in Western Australia. Addiction 1997; 92: 1327–37.
- 25 Topp L., Hando J., Dillon P., Roche A., Solowij N. Ecstasy use in Australia: patterns of use and associated harms. Drug Alcohol Depend 2000; 55: 105–15.
- 26 Degenhardt L., Barker B., Topp L. Patterns of ecstasy use in Australia: findings from a national household survey. Addiction 2004; 99: 187–95.
- 27 Johnston J., Laslett A-M, Jenkinson R., Miller P., Fry C. Victorian party drug trends 2003 findings from the Party Drugs Initiative (PDI). NDARC Technical Report no. 183. Melbourne: Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, 2004.
- 28 Johnston J., Laslett A-M, Miller P., Jenkinson R., Fry C., Dietze P. Victorian psychostimulant monitoring project: trialling enhanced drug trend monitoring of Melbourne psychostimulant markets. Melbourne: Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre and Drugs Policy and Services Branch, Victorian Department of Human Services, 2004.
- 29
Nicholson T.,
White J.,
Duncan D.
Drugnet: a pilot study of adult recreational drug use via the WWW.
Subst Abuse
1998; 19: 109–21.
10.1080/08897079809511380 Google Scholar
- 30 Deutskens E., De Ruyter K., Wetzels M., Oosterveld P. Response rate and response quality of internet-based surveys: an experimental study. Market Lett 2004; 15: 21–36.
- 31 Eysenbach G., Wyatt J. Using the internet for surveys and health research. J Med Internet Res 2002; 4: e13.
