Can We Measure Homelessness? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Capture-Recapture’

Homeless people constitute a rare and elusive population, but additionally counting the numbers homeless is made more difficult as a result of the absence of agreed definitions, across time and place, of what constitutes homelessness. This paper reviews some of the methods of counting used and criti...

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Main Author: Malcolm Williams
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2010-08-01
Series:Methodological Innovations
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4256/mio.2010.0018
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spelling doaj-615e0f1aea874f0e9ae53e2b165f47682020-11-25T03:37:54ZengSAGE PublishingMethodological Innovations2059-79912010-08-01510.4256/mio.2010.0018Can We Measure Homelessness? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Capture-Recapture’Malcolm Williams0 Cardiff UniversityHomeless people constitute a rare and elusive population, but additionally counting the numbers homeless is made more difficult as a result of the absence of agreed definitions, across time and place, of what constitutes homelessness. This paper reviews some of the methods of counting used and critically evaluates one particular method, that of ‘capture-recapture’. Projects undertaken by the author and his colleagues, in the UK, are used as illustrations of the possibilities and limitations of the method.https://doi.org/10.4256/mio.2010.0018
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Malcolm Williams
spellingShingle Malcolm Williams
Can We Measure Homelessness? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Capture-Recapture’
Methodological Innovations
author_facet Malcolm Williams
author_sort Malcolm Williams
title Can We Measure Homelessness? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Capture-Recapture’
title_short Can We Measure Homelessness? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Capture-Recapture’
title_full Can We Measure Homelessness? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Capture-Recapture’
title_fullStr Can We Measure Homelessness? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Capture-Recapture’
title_full_unstemmed Can We Measure Homelessness? A Critical Evaluation of ‘Capture-Recapture’
title_sort can we measure homelessness? a critical evaluation of ‘capture-recapture’
publisher SAGE Publishing
series Methodological Innovations
issn 2059-7991
publishDate 2010-08-01
description Homeless people constitute a rare and elusive population, but additionally counting the numbers homeless is made more difficult as a result of the absence of agreed definitions, across time and place, of what constitutes homelessness. This paper reviews some of the methods of counting used and critically evaluates one particular method, that of ‘capture-recapture’. Projects undertaken by the author and his colleagues, in the UK, are used as illustrations of the possibilities and limitations of the method.
url https://doi.org/10.4256/mio.2010.0018
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