Recruiting migrant workers in Australia for Public Health surveys: how sampling strategy make a difference in estimates
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RESEARCH NOTE
Recruiting migrant workers in Australia for Public Health surveys: how sampling strategy make a difference in estimates of workplace hazards Alison Daly and Alison Reid*
Abstract Objectives: One third of the Australian work force are immigrants. Relatively little is known about working conditions for specific migrant groups. The objectives of this paper are to describe and compare the sampling strategies used to recruit migrant workers from specific migrant groups working in Australia into a cross-sectional study designed to produce population estimates of workplace hazards and self-reported health. Results: Two cross sectional telephone surveys were conducted with immigrants currently working in Australia. Survey 1 used quota sampling from lists provided by a sample broker. Survey 2 used a combination of probability and non-probability sampling, including random sampling from telephone lists. Data from the surveys were weighted and comparisons made with unweighted data. While weighting adjusted for most differences across the sample sources, the likelihood of exposure to workplace hazards depended on exposure types and sampling strategies. We concluded that by using a combination of sampling strategies it is possible to recruit immigrants from specific migrant groups and provide a balanced view of working conditions, although no one strategy was best for all types of measures. Access to a robust sample source for migrants would enable a better perspective to migrant populations’ working conditions. Keywords: Migrant workers, Cross-sectional surveys, Sampling, Methods Introduction Migrants who make up to 15% of workers in developed countries [1] have poorer working conditions than native-born populations [2–5]. They may also be in lower socioeconomic circumstances [6], have less access to health services including preventative services [7], poorer language proficiency [8], poorer health [9] and health literacy [10]. Research into the working conditions and health outcomes of foreign-born workers in Australia, who *Correspondence: [email protected] School of Public Health, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
make up 35% of the Australian workforce [11], is limited. Data from 30 years ago showed that foreign-born workers, from non-English speaking backgrounds, had a higher risk of work-related fatality in the rural and mining industries than Australian-born, particularly in their first 5 years of residence in Australia [12]. Results from the few studies conducted in this area in Australia suggests that their job experience may differ from their Australian counterparts, both in terms of risks related to exposure to carcinogens [13–15] and exposure to workplace psychosocial stressors [16]. Recruitment of migrants into public health research is challenging. It has two major challenges. The first is the willingness of migrants to participate. While
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