Innovation in the Measurement of Community Contextual Features

描述(由申请人提供)：准确衡量个人生活和互动的社会背景对于理解许多重要的幸福结果非常重要。尽管社区环境和活动空间数据与社会、行为和医学研究相关，但有几个问题对数据收集提出了挑战。首先，很难收集邻里环境和活动空间的精确空间测量，特别是在没有全面数字地址系统的环境中。收集社区背景和活动空间数据的第二个挑战是，仪器没有充分利用视觉线索、地图和图像，这些可能会增加受访者的空间回忆。该项目的目标是直接应对这些挑战。首先，该项目设计了一种创新的计算机辅助面试(CAI)工具，面试官和受访者都可以轻松使用。该仪器将能够以受访者提供的任何精度水平测量特征的位置，从精确点到具有更高不确定性的一般空间位置。其次，该项目正式比较了使用计算机辅助教学仪器收集的数据和使用标准纸质仪器收集的数据的质量。第三，为了证明这些数据如何被用来促进知识的发展，我们测试了假设，比较了我们研究地点重要人口亚群在居住社区背景和活动空间方面的重叠。居住社区环境与活动空间的不同程度是一个重要因素，因为扩展的活动空间可以作为一种变化机制进行理论推导。我们对假设的测试可能会建议对活动空间进行额外的研究，作为婚姻、生育、寻求健康和其他行为差异背后的因素，这些行为在许多发展中的环境中正在迅速变化。该项目能够通过利用最近两项重要技术的可负担性来实现这些目标：高度详细的实地地理信息系统和多点触摸式显示器。我们期待这一新工具能改进调查人员收集社区背景和活动空间数据的测量方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Accurate measurement of the social context in which individuals live and interact is important for understanding many important well-being outcomes. Despite the relevance of neighborhood context and activity space data for social, behavioral, and medical research, several issues challenge the collection of data. First, precise spatial measures of neighborhood context and activity spaces are difficult to collect, particularly in settings without comprehensive number address systems. A second challenge to collecting neighborhood context and activity space data is that instruments have not taken full advantage of the visual cues, maps, and imagery that are likely to increase respondent spatial recall. This project's aims directly address these challenges. First, the project designs an innovative computer assisted interview (CAI) instrument that can easily be used by both interviewers and respondents. The instrument will be able to measure the location of features at whatever level of precision the respondent provides, from exact points to general spatial locations with higher degrees of uncertainty. Second, this project formally compares the quality of data collected using the CAI instrument to data collected using a standard paper-based instrument. Third, to demonstrate how these data can be used to advance knowledge, we test hypotheses comparing the overlap in residential neighborhood context and activity spaces among important population subgroups at our study site. The degree to which residential neighborhood context differs from activity spaces is an important factor because expanded activity spaces can be theorized as a mechanism of change. Our tests of hypotheses may suggest additional research in activity spaces as factors behind differentials in marriage, fertility, health-seeking, and othe behaviors that are rapidly changing in many developing settings. The project is able to meet these aims by taking advantage of the recent affordability of two important technologies: highly detailed field-based geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-touch displays. We expect this new tool to improve measurement methods for investigators who collect neighborhood context and activity space data.