While institutional settings provide relatively easy access to many hidden populations, there is limited generalizability of research findings to larger non-institutional populations that may not share important attributes of their institutional counter parts. This article describes some of the efforts of an interdisciplinary research team investigating the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative pathogen associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and related conditions. The risk groups studied were injecting drug users and their sexual partners. The method developed to sample injecting drug users is called targeted sampling. Targeted sampling provides a cohesive set of research methods that can help researchers study health or social problems that exist among populations that are difficult to reach because of their attributed social stigma, legal status, and consequent lack of visibility (authors).
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