NET-Q - CAPI Sytem for Social Risk Network Data Collection
Dr. Maureen Miller received an 5 year NIDA grant in 2001 to study risk networks among African-American cocaine, crack or heroin using women. The instrument to be used throughout her study was far from a standard interview. Each recruited participant would be asked for the names of a number of individuals from their "social network". Demographic, drug use, and sexual behavior data regarding each of these reported network members would need to be gathered from the respondent, as well as information regarding whether each of the reported network members knew each other, used drugs together, shared needles with each other, and whether they were sexual partners. In addition, risk members who were eligible for recruitment would need to be identified and requested to enter the study to gather more data about them and their social networks. All recruited individuals in the study would then be followed for up to five years. Dr. Miller knew that a custom data-entry system would be needed, and she turned to Panna Technologies for help. We were able to sit down with Dr. Miller, and with our wide experience in research design and analysis and our expertise in Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), design a system that would standardize the administration of the instrument, and maintain adherence to her protocol. In addition, the system would take care of the complicated skip and fill rules, as well as link referred subjects to their index cases. The result was NET-Q, which is currently being used by Dr. Milller in her longitudinal research project.
To the left is the main screen of NET-Q which presents a sortable list of the research participants. We also included a number of pieces of information that would help the research assistants in the administration of the instrument. From this screen all sections of the instrument can be accessed.
To the right is an example of the data entry screen in the demographics section of the instrument. On the bottom of the screen is a large yellow box with the question to be asked of the respondent. This allows the interviewer to have the exact question to be asked prominently displayed so that the protocol is adhered to and every respondent gets asked the same question in the same way.
  • Notice that NET-Q uses standard user-interface elements such as drop down lists to make sure only applicable responses can be selected, increasing data quality.
  • Skip and fill logic allow the program to determine which question to ask next as well as filling in default values for logically determined answers, limiting the chance of interviewer error.
  • Also notice that with custom programming, additional features are available, in this case the subject responded that they had a STAPH infection as a fill in field. The next question asking for how old they were the first time they had STAPH, is presented to the interviewer using whatever was written in the fill-in field, in this case STAPH.
  • NET-Q uses tabbed dialog boxes to organize the differenct sections of the instrument allowing long questionnaires to be presented in a compact space.
Data on the members of a respondents network are collected on the NETWORK screen. Up to 15 network members can be identified. For each a number of basic question are asked.
Demographic data on each network member is collected in the NETWORK DEMOS screen. Data are collected for only the identified network members. The protocal also called for the gathering of each piece of demographic data for each network member before proceeding to the next piece of demographic data.
For the collection of sexual behavior and drug use data of the network members, the protocol called for all questions to be asked of each member before asking about the next member. Custom programming allows this to happen.
The NETWORK MATRIX screen gathers data about each pair of network members. The specific question to be asked of the respondent is created on-the-fly by NET-Q using data already collected. Large easy to read buttons were used in this section, each respresents whether the pair K - know each other, D - do drugs together, N - share needles, or X - have sex together.

With the help of Panna Technologies, Dr. Miller has a fully customized data entry system that will reliably handle her data collection needs of her 5-year longitudinal study.