Table 1 Comparison of conventional (NSAOH) with non-conventional (ABC study) dental data collection techniques
| Â | Conventional | Non-Conventional |
|---|---|---|
Study | National Survey of Adult Oral Health (NSAOH) | The dental component of the Aboriginal Birth Cohort (ABC) study |
Design | Cross-sectional, utilising a three-stage, stratified clustered sampling design | Prospective longitudinal |
Measures | Predominantly dental | Multidisciplinary (anthropometric, respiratory, renal, metabolic, cardiovascular, haematological, infection, social and emotional well-being, dental) |
Location | All Australian states and territories | 40 communities in Northern Territory's top end; nearly 80% of participants remotely-located |
Recruitment | Postal contact, telephone | Community-employed 'locators', telephone, house visits, relative visits, school visits |
Number of contacts made | Up to 6 for telephone interview, up to 2 for clinical examination | Endless, or until the team left the community or an outright refusal was given |
Transport | Participants' responsibility | Participants would be picked up and dropped off |
Consent | Individual verbal and written consent | Community permit, individual written consent |
Participant age range | 15 years+ | 16–20 years |
Setting | Public dental clinics in participants' post codes | Range including hospital rooms, community health clinics, women's centres, recreation halls, school classrooms, outdoors |
Privacy | Dental surgery walls | Sheets, tables, racks of clothing, table cloths |
Dental chair | Dental surgical chair | Portable, reclining camp chair |
Light | Dental light attached to chair | Fire-fighter's head torch with rechargeable batteries |
Instruments: | Â | Â |
   Examination probe | Non-disposable periodontal probe with 2 mm markings | Disposable periodontal probe with 2 mm markings |
   Mirror | Mirror light kit with disposable mirror heads and disposable plastic sleeve | Mirror light kit with disposable mirror heads and disposable plastic sleeve |
Data recording | Dental assistant entering data directly onto laptop computer | (i) Digital voice-recorder (ii) Computer-based voice-recording software using Microsoft Word© facilities and; (iii) Computer-based voice-recording software using Microsoft Excel© spreadsheets. |
Replication | Conducted with 157 participants to assess reliability of 29 examiners | Not possible |