Abstract
Prevention research addressing health disparities often involves work with small population groups experiencing such disparities. The goals of this special section are to (1) address the question of what constitutes a small sample; (2) identify some of the key research design and analytic issues that arise in prevention research with small samples; (3) develop applied, problem-oriented, and methodologically innovative solutions to these design and analytic issues; and (4) evaluate the potential role of these innovative solutions in describing phenomena, testing theory, and evaluating interventions in prevention research. Through these efforts, we hope to promote broader application of these methodological innovations. We also seek whenever possible, to explore their implications in more general problems that appear in research with small samples but concern all areas of prevention research. This special section includes two sections. The first section aims to provide input for researchers at the design phase, while the second focuses on analysis. Each article describes an innovative solution to one or more challenges posed by the analysis of small samples, with special emphasis on testing for intervention effects in prevention research. A concluding article summarizes some of their broader implications, along with conclusions regarding future directions in research with small samples in prevention science. Finally, a commentary provides the perspective of the federal agencies that sponsored the conference that gave rise to this special section.
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Acknowledgments
This special section of the Prevention Science was supported through a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse [R13DA030834, C.C.T. Fok, PI], which funded the conference “Advancing Science with Culturally Distinct Communities: Improving Small Sample Methods for Establishing an Evidence Base in Health Disparities Research” held on August 17–18, 2011 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. We thank University of Alaska President’s Professors John Himes, William Knowler, Alan Kristal, Mary Sexton, Nancy Schoenberg, Beti Thompson, and Edison Trickett for their support and input to the application and this conference. Preparation and background to this article were also provided through grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the National Institute of General Medical Services [T32 DA037183, R21AA016098, RO1AA11446; R21AA01 6098; R24MD001626; P20RR061430].
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Fok, C.C.T., Henry, D. & Allen, J. Maybe Small Is Too Small a Term: Introduction to Advancing Small Sample Prevention Science. Prev Sci 16, 943–949 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0584-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0584-5