Family Resource Allocation in Urban and Rural Communities

琳达·伯顿斯蒂芬·马修斯宾夕法尼亚州立大学黛布拉·斯金纳宾夕法尼亚州立大学研究人员将利用人种学和地理信息系统(GIS)技术，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。资源分配被定义为在家庭中的几代人内和跨代人采购和分配物质、情感和信息资源。为了审查这一问题，首席调查员将分析来自两项设计类似的人种学研究的次要数据，并在一项研究中补充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。三个城市的民族志研究于1999年6月至2003年8月在波士顿、芝加哥和圣安东尼奥进行，包括256个低收入非裔美国人、西班牙裔和非西班牙裔白人家庭的样本。这些数据包括超过45000页的实地笔记、参与者访谈和观察的文字记录、3500盘录音带以及载有生活过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，将持续到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。这项民族志研究正在宾夕法尼亚州和北卡罗来纳州进行。这笔赠款将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。这笔拨款还将允许研究人员将10个西班牙裔家庭添加到这份人种志中，以便样本在种族上与三个城市的研究相媲美。这项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性之间的关系；(2)将关于家庭和社区的人种学方法和数据与地理信息系统技术相结合，以了解城乡社区代际资源分配的情况。这项计划将加深我们对家庭资源分配的认识和理解。该项目采取了跨学科的方法，包括社会学家、人类学家、地理学家作为研究团队成员。研究结果不仅对研究团队所代表的学科有广泛的吸引力，而且对人口学、人类发展、生命历程和家庭研究的学者也有广泛的吸引力。此外，人种学和地理信息系统方法和数据的结合是该领域的重大创新，有可能导致对低收入家庭的资源分配有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.