Family Resource Allocation in Urban and Rural Communities

利用人种学和地理信息系统（GIS）技术，研究人员将对居住在大城市、小城镇和农村社区的低收入家庭的资源分配进行一项新颖、深入的比较研究。资源配置被定义为物质、情感和信息资源的获取和分配，这些资源是在家庭的几代人内部和跨代人之间进行的。为了研究这个问题，pi（首席调查员）将分析来自两个设计相似的人种学研究的次要数据，并补充正在进行的数据收集。这两项研究分别是《福利、儿童与家庭：三城研究》和《家庭生活项目》。三城人种学研究于1999年6月至2003年8月在波士顿、芝加哥和圣安东尼奥进行，样本包括256个低收入的非裔美国人、西班牙裔和非西班牙裔白人家庭。这些数据包括超过45000页的现场笔记和参与者访谈和观察记录，3500盘录音带，以及包含生命历程和空间资源利用信息的关键表格。家庭生活项目于2002年10月启动，一直持续到2006年10月，涉及72个低收入非裔美国人和非西班牙裔白人家庭的样本。这种人种学研究正在宾夕法尼亚和北卡罗来纳进行。这笔赠款将用于支持家庭生活项目中正在进行的民族志和地理信息系统资源分配数据的收集。这笔拨款还将允许调查人员在人种志中增加10个西班牙裔家庭，以便样本在种族上与三城研究相比较。本研究的具体目的有两个：(1)研究城乡背景下代际资源配置、家庭角色、社区资源和社会流动性之间的关系；(2)将民族志方法和家庭和社区数据与GIS技术相结合，以帮助我们理解城乡社区的代际资源配置。该项目将促进我们对家庭资源分配的认识和理解。该项目采用跨学科的方法，包括社会学家、人类学家、地理学家作为研究小组成员。研究结果不仅对研究小组所代表的学科有广泛的吸引力，而且对人口统计学、人类发展、生命历程和家庭研究方面的学者也有广泛的吸引力。此外，民族志和地理信息系统方法和数据的整合代表了该领域的重大创新，有可能导致对低收入家庭资源分配的新见解和上下文敏感的理解。

Linda BurtonStephen MatthewsDebra SkinnerPennyslvania State UniversityUsing ethnography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, the investigators will conduct a novel, in- depth, comparative study of resource allocation in low-income families residing in large urban, small town, and rural communities. Resource allocation is defined as the procurement and distribution of material, emotional, and informational resources within and across generations in families. To examine this issue, the PIs (Principal Investigators) will analyze secondary data from two comparably designed ethnographic studies, and supplement on-going data collection in one. The studies are the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study and the Family Life Project. The Three-City Study Ethnography was conducted in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio from June 1999 to August 2003 and comprises a sample of 256 low-income African American, Hispanic, and non- Hispanic white families. The data include over 45,000 pages of fieldnotes and transcripts of participant interviews and observations, 3500 audiotapes, and key tables with life course and spatial resource use information. The Family Life Project, launched in October 2002 and continuing through October 2006, involves a sample of 72 low income African American and non-Hispanic white families. This ethnography is being conducted in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The grant will support the collection of on-going ethnographic and GIS resource allocation data from families in the Family Life Project. The grant will also allow the investigators to add ten Hispanic families to this ethnography so that the sample is ethnically comparable to the Three-City Study. The specific aims of the proposed study are twofold: (1) to examine the relationship between intergenerational resource allocation, family roles, community resources, and social mobility in urban and rural settings and (2) to integrate ethnographic methods and data on families and communities with GIS technology to inform our understanding of intergenerational resource allocation in urban and rural communities. The project will advance our knowledge and understanding of family resource allocation. The project takes an interdisciplinary approach, including sociologist, anthropologists, geographers as research team members. Study findings will have a broad appeal to not only disciplines represented by the research team, but to scholars in demography, human development, and life course and family studies as well. More over, the integration of ethnographic and GIS methods and data represents significant innovation in the field that has the potential to lead to new insights and contextually-sensitive understandings of resource allocation among lower-income families.