Measuring Neighborhood: A Conundrum for Human Services Researchers and Practitioners

Abstract

This article contributes to the knowledge base of neighborhood intervention and research by reviewing the myriad ways the construct neighborhood is operationalized. The interdisciplinary review presents a critical examination of each measurement genre from quantitative to qualitative. The discussion of neighborhood measures includes (a) census and other administrative data, (b) windshield surveys, (c) rating scales, (d) structured/unstructured interviews (including ethnographies), (e) residents' written descriptions, (f) photographs, (g) drawings, and (h) mixed method constructions. When pertinent, the role of children's voices in these measures is discussed. In addition, the conceptual nature of neighborhood is examined from the perspective of environment and place. This environment-place duality is presented as a framework for choosing the type of measure one plans to use for research or practice. Conclusions suggest that research and practice are enhanced by building bridges between measures representing environment and measures representing place. Such bridges offer opportunities to develop interventions that are viable for creating lasting change.

Navigating Cultural Worlds and Negotiating Identities: A Conceptual Model

“…We find Nicotera's [2007] distinction between neighborhoods as environment and place useful in illustrating how our conceptualization of community context includes both environmental circumstances as represented in ecological models, as well as the meaning-making processes through which individuals interpret their circumstances. Nicotera [2007] distinguished between environment as a static context that most people experience in the same way, and place as the socially constructed history of individuals' lived experience of an environment over time (p. 27).…”

“…Nicotera [2007] distinguished between environment as a static context that most people experience in the same way, and place as the socially constructed history of individuals' lived experience of an environment over time (p. 27). For example, features of community context, such as economic and sociocultural characteristics in our model represent shared environmental circumstances that can be assessed as static snapshots of community contexts (A in table 1 ).…”

“…For example, features of community context, such as economic and sociocultural characteristics in our model represent shared environmental circumstances that can be assessed as static snapshots of community contexts (A in table 1 ). However, the socially and culturally constructed meaning attributed to these features, and processes or strategies developed in response need to be examined at the family level to represent what Nicotera [2007] referred to as the place aspect of community context. Thus, ethnic stratification at the community level (i.e., ethnic composition and ethnic enclaves) is the backdrop against which families construct culturally grounded belief systems or ethnotheories of success and their own social reality in terms of access to resources and the types of barriers faced.…”

Mapping Children’s Neighborhood Perceptions: Implications for Child Indicators

“…Ironically, despite the fact that much of the neighborhood-effects research focuses on the development and health of children, relatively little is known about the definition and meanings of neighborhood to children; to date, most work to spatially operationalize the neighborhood has involved adults (Burton and Price-Spratlen 1999;Coulton et al, 2001;Nicotera 2007). The literature on children's perspectives on neighborhoods has focused mainly on neighborhood qualities or characteristics, such as likes and dislikes or dangerous versus safe features of neighborhoods (e.g., Holaday et al 1997;Morrow 2001;Schiavo 1988;van Andel 1990;van Vliet 1981).…”

Construction and Validation of an Observational Scale of Neighborhood Characteristics

“…Individual-level indicators also present limitations, as perceptions of neighborhood conditions may vary greatly among residents, introducing age-related and other demographic effects (Nicotera 2007). For this reason, aggregating individual-level indicators requires a large representative sample to adequately capture neighborhood context across a range of resident perspectives.…”