title: Comparing In-Person and Online Survey Respondents in the U.S. National Transgender Discrimination Survey: Implications for Transgender Health Research.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In the absence of probability sample studies of transgender people, new methods are needed to yield study samples that reflect the demographic diversity of the transgender population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The National Transgender Discrimination Survey is a large, convenience sample of 6,456 transgender adults between the ages of 18 and 89. We examined characteristics of purposively sampled respondents who, in 2008, completed a one-time survey either in-person (435 respondents) or online (6,021respondents). Missing data were multiply imputed, and multivariable logistic regression models were used to test for differences in sociodemographic and health indicators by data collection method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A higher proportion of in-person respondents were young, male-to-female, people of color, publicly insured, with lower incomes and lower educational attainment than online respondents (all p<0.05). In-person respondents also were more likely than online respondents to be current daily smokers, to endorse substance use to cope with mistreatment, and to self-report as HIV-positive (all p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings indicate that online and in-person data collection methods reach transgender respondents with vastly different health and life experiences. To achieve a more diverse sample of transgender adults, then, requires diverse recruitment settings and survey modalities.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health , Boston, Massachusetts.|2 The Fenway Institute , Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Sari L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Reisner
authors.affiliation: 2 The Fenway Institute , Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Kerith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Conron
authors.affiliation: 2 The Fenway Institute , Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Nfn
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Scout
authors.affiliation: 2 The Fenway Institute , Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts.|3 Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health , Boston, Massachusetts.|4 Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Mimiaga
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School Public Health , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Sebastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haneuse
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health , Boston, Massachusetts.|6 Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Children's Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts.|7 Channing Laboratory, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts.|8 Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: S Bryn
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Austin
keywords: methods; sampling; transgender