Respondent-driven sampling and an unusual epidemic

AbstractRespondent-driven sampling (RDS) is frequently used when sampling from hidden populations. In RDS, sampled individuals pass on participation coupons to at most cof their acquaintances in the community (c= 3 being a common choice). If these individuals choose to participate, they in turn pass coupons on to their acquaintances, and so on. The process of recruiting is shown to behave like a new Reed–Frost-type network epidemic, in which 'becoming infected' corresponds to study participation. We calculate R0, the probability of a major 'outbreak', and the relative size of a major outbreak for c< 8 in the limit of infinite population size and compare to the standard Reed–Frost epidemic. Our results indicate that cshould often be chosen larger than in current practice.