Recruitment. Court personnel at each site provided information to a research associate regarding adolescents with pending intake hearings. The research associate then reviewed the information about each case to determine if the adolescent met the inclusion criteria (see Sampling for more details), which were developed based on our analysis of court records. Adolescent who met these criteria were approached about study involvement after their disposition has been imposed, and informed consent was obtained from the parent/guardian for the child’s involvement.
Retention. Youth receive $50 for the first interview; compensation increases by $15 with each successive interview to provide an incentive to stay with the study. A retention rate of over 90% has been maintained for the completed waves of data collection.
Training. A web-based training curriculum was developed by the coordinating center, including specific protocols for interviewing subjects, information concerning the recruitment process, and information on subject retention, obtaining consent, and maintaining confidentiality.
Interviewing. Interviews are conducted in the community (e.g., at participants’ homes or nearby locations that afford privacy) or in secure residences using laptop computers. Computer administration software designed for this study allows for anonymous keypad data entry by the subject for sections of the interview covering sensitive topics, as well as assists in administration (e.g., incorporates skip patterns) and data entry.
Data Storage. No identifying information is entered into the electronic data files produced at interviews. Upon completion of an interview, the interviewer checks all responses for accuracy, and backs up the data on a local secure server. The data file is then uploaded securely to the password protected, firewalled server where it is again checked for consistency and entered into a central, computerized data set.