Family Resource Allocation in Urban and Rural Communities

琳达伯顿斯蒂芬马修斯黛布拉斯金纳宾夕法尼亚州立大学使用人种学和地理信息系统（GIS）技术，调查人员将进行一个新的，深入的，比较研究的资源分配在低收入家庭居住在大城市，小城镇和农村社区。资源分配是指在家庭内部和代际之间对物质、情感和信息资源的获取和分配。为了研究这个问题，PI（主要研究者）将分析来自两项共同设计的人种学研究的次要数据，并补充一项正在进行的数据收集。 这些研究是福利、儿童和家庭：三个城市的研究和家庭生活项目。1999年6月至2003年8月，在波士顿、芝加哥和圣安东尼奥进行了三城人种志研究，样本包括256个低收入非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔和非西班牙裔白色家庭。这些数据包括超过45，000页的现场记录和参与者访谈和观察的记录，3500个录音带，以及生命历程和空间资源使用信息的关键表格。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色家庭的样本。这项民族志正在宾夕法尼亚州和北卡罗来纳州进行。 这笔赠款将用于支持从家庭生活项目的家庭收集正在进行的人种学和地理信息系统资源分配数据。 研究人员还将获得10个西班牙裔家庭的资助，以便在人种学上与三城市研究进行比较。 本研究的具体目的有两个：（1）考察城乡环境中代际资源分配、家庭角色、社区资源和社会流动之间的关系;（2）将民族志方法和有关家庭和社区的数据与GIS技术相结合，为我们理解城乡社区的代际资源分配提供信息。 该项目将增进我们对家庭资源分配的认识和理解。 该项目采取跨学科的方法，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具有广泛的吸引力，而且对人口学、人类发展、生命历程和家庭研究的学者也具有广泛的吸引力。 更重要的是，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，有可能对低收入家庭的资源分配产生新的见解和对背景敏感的理解。

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.