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This article reports on a study that was designed to document the experience of clients who were forced, after having been on a methadone maintenance program for 2 years or more, to begin paying in full for their treatment or to detoxify from the program. The 5-year follow-up study's longitudinal scope invited the authors to learn, and in some cases devise, strategies for establishing long-term rapport and trust with their respondents. The authors learned to interview clients in multitudinously diverse situations and discovered canny ways to pursue an elusive and transient study population. Most of all, they realized that the abstract notion of remaining completely uninvolved is not altogether possible or desirable. Unlike a short-term study in which investigators interview subjects once and never see them again, a longitudinal study creates bonds of friendship, concern, and sometimes even animosity between staff and respondents that make complete neutrality impossible. A discriminating empathy actually enhances an unbiased report.
Watson et al. (Fri,) studied this question.