Replicating and Adapting an Index of Social Vulnerability to a New Context: A Comparison Study for Norway

Exploratory Testing of an Artificial Neural Network Classification for Enhancement of the Social Vulnerability Index

“…The loaded demographic variables in the PCA are identified to have specific representations of vulnerability based on our existing understanding of the role of social inequality on social vulnerability, and the PCA-identified factors are used to calculate the SoVI score for each enumeration unit. The SoVI has been demonstrated at a variety of scales, from the census block level to the county level across the United States [3,7] and at the county level in Norway [8], though the PCA approach has only been demonstrated at the county level [3,8].…”

“…Such deliberation is beyond the scope of this project. As such, this study will proceed as though the traditional SoVI is a valid method, supported by more than ten years of use in the literature [2,3,7,8]. This is central to the purpose of assessing the viability of the use of an ANN to improve upon the traditional methodology.…”

“…With the adaptive element identified by Holand and Lujala [8] coupled with index sensitivity analysis by Schmidtlein et al and Tate [13,14], new possibilities are opened for advancing the power of the SoVI. One such opportunity becomes apparent when considering Stephen and Downing's [15] assessment of vulnerability to famine and food insecurity in Ethiopia in a comparison between three methods.…”

“…However, Tate [14] challenged that statistical bias, precision, and uncertainty are intrinsically part of the general hierarchical SoVI, thereby insisting that sensitivity analysis be included in the creation of a vulnerability index. Holand and Lujala [8] followed with an approach to adapt the SoVI to a new geographic context, in their study's case translating the United States-centric SoVI to apply to Norway. Holand and Lujala [8] altered the variable selection for the SoVI to better reflect the cultural, social, and political context of Norway.…”

“…Holand and Lujala [8] followed with an approach to adapt the SoVI to a new geographic context, in their study's case translating the United States-centric SoVI to apply to Norway. Holand and Lujala [8] altered the variable selection for the SoVI to better reflect the cultural, social, and political context of Norway. Taken together, this literature suggests that the SoVI is flexible in its construction and viable for results provided care is taken in construction of indices.…”