Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) Series

Systematic Social Observation (SSO) is a standardized approach for directly observing the physical, social, and economic characteristics of neighborhoods, one block at a time. The main objective of the SSO was to measure the effects of neighborhood characteristics upon young people's development, specifically the variables associated with youth violence. SSO data were collected in 1995 by videotaping and coding characteristics of 80 sampled blocks from 343 neighborhood clusters in Chicago.

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