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Curated

American National Election Study: 2000 Pilot Study (ICPSR 2936)

Released/updated on: 2003-12-11

Geographic coverage: United States

This brief special-topic Pilot study focused on a single general topic, trust. Respondents were asked for their opinions on the honesty, respectfulness, courteousness, and general trustworthiness of the neighbors in their communities, their colleagues at work, and politicians. Questions included items on respondents' membership in community organizations and attendance at meetings, whether the respondents worked cooperatively with others on community issues, and whether they had ever contacted government officials regarding community concerns. Politicians were evaluated as to their respect for the citizenry and for their opponents, whether they made campaign promises that they did not intend to keep, and whether politicians would pay more attention to people like the respondent if elections were held more often. One section of the questionnaire asked respondents to gauge how participating in certain activities (attending religious services, following public affairs, voting) and having certain opinions (in favor of further integrating public schools, increasing Social Security spending, instituting term limits for Congress) would shape other people's impressions of them. Demographic variables include gender, race, employment status, and length of residency in the community.

Curated

Detroit Area Study, 2001: Quality of Life in the Metro-Detroit Area (ICPSR 29441)

Released/updated on: 2011-04-11

Geographic coverage: Detroit, United States, Michigan

The 2001 Detroit Area Study (DAS) is a survey of over 4,300 adults in metro Detroit and addresses their perceptions, expectations, satisfaction, and behaviors associated with community living. The 2001 DAS, conducted in the spring and summer 2001, consisted of two parts. Initially, face-to-face interviews were conducted with a probability sample of 315 adult respondents (18 years of age and older) living in the tri-county area of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties. Subsequently, a questionnaire was mailed to a sample of adults throughout the seven counties; 4,077 were returned. Response rates were 59.8 percent for the face-to-face sample and 56.7 percent for the mail sample. In addition to survey responses, DAS 2001 compiled contextual information about the minor civil divisions (MCDs) or communities and environments associated with each respondent. Contextual information includes housing and demographic characteristics, land use characteristics, and other characteristics of the communities where respondents live (growth rates, employment, school information). Questions on the survey asked about residential history; public services and transportation; government and taxes; schools; police; parks, recreation and where kids play; shopping and other community issues; community participation and involvement; neighborhood and neighboring; housing and prospective mobility; safety; employment and journey to work; health and health care facilities; other Detroit and regional issues; demographics; and observations. The 2001 DAS presents a unique opportunity to explore and record changes over time by measuring people's opinions and behaviors and the conditions in their communities. The 2001 DAS is different from earlier DAS surveys in several ways. First, the study has been expanded from three to seven counties in southeast Michigan, often referred to as the metro Detroit area. That is, the study contacted residents in Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties and in the city of Detroit. Second, the number of people contacted is greatly increased using a combination of face-to-face interviews and questionnaires sent by mail. Over 4,000 households in the region were contacted. Third, the questionnaires were designed in consultation with stakeholder groups representing government, industry, and nonprofit organizations in the region. Finally, indicators associated with the sampled households are being compiled and analyzed (along with the survey responses) using statistical and spatial analytic techniques including Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Curated

Immigrant Second Generation in Metropolitan New York (ICPSR 30302)

Released/updated on: 2011-04-01

Geographic coverage: New York City, United States, New York (state)

The study analyzes the forces leading to or impeding the assimilation of 18- to 32-year-olds from immigrant backgrounds that vary in terms of race, language, and the mix of skills and liabilities their parents brought to the United States. To make sure that what we find derives specifically from growing up in an immigrant family, rather than simply being a young person in New York, a comparison group of people from native born White, Black, and Puerto Rican backgrounds was also studied. The sample was drawn from New York City (except for Staten Island) and the surrounding counties in the inner part of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region where the vast majority of immigrants and native born minority group members live and grow up. The study groups make possible a number of interesting comparisons. Unlike many other immigrant groups, the West Indian first generation speaks English, but the dominant society racially classifies them as Black. The study explored how their experiences resemble or differ from native born African Americans. Dominicans and the Colombian-Peruvian-Ecuadoran population both speak Spanish, but live in different parts of New York, have different class backgrounds prior to immigration, and, quite often, different skin tones. The study compared them to Puerto Rican young people, who, along with their parents, have the benefit of citizenship. Chinese immigrants from the mainland tend to have little education, while young people with overseas Chinese parents come from families with higher incomes, more education, and more English fluency. Respondents were divided into eight groups depending on their parents' origin. Those of immigrant ancestry include: Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union; Chinese immigrants from the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Chinese Diaspora; immigrants from the Dominican Republic; immigrants from the English-speaking countries of the West Indies (including Guyana but excluding Haiti and those of Indian origin); and immigrants from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. These groups composed 44 percent of the 2000 second-generation population in the defined sample area. For comparative purposes, Whites, Blacks, and Puerto Ricans who were born in the United States and whose parents were born in the United States or Puerto Rico were also interviewed. To be eligible, a respondent had to have a parent from one of these groups. If the respondent was eligible for two groups, he or she was asked which designation he or she preferred. The ability to compare these groups with native born Whites, Blacks, and Puerto Ricans permits researchers to investigate the effects of nativity while controlling for race and language background. About two-thirds of second-generation respondents were born in the United States, mostly in New York City, while one-third were born abroad but arrived in the United States by age 12 and had lived in the country for at least 10 years, except for those from the former Soviet Union, some of whom arrived past the age of 12. The project began with a pilot study in July 1996. Survey data collection took place between November 1999 and December 1999. The study includes demographic variables such as race, ethnicity, language, age, education, income, family size, country of origin, and citizenship status.

Curated

Seattle Neighborhoods and Crime Survey, 2002-2003 (ICPSR 28701)

Released/updated on: 2010-12-10

Geographic coverage: Seattle, United States, Washington

Time period: 2002-01-01--2003-01-01

The objective of the Seattle Neighborhoods and Crime Survey (SNCS) was to test multilevel theories of neighborhood social organization and criminal violence. It was funded by the National Science Foundation (SES-0004324), and the National Consortium on Violence Research (SBR-9513040). Using the concept of differential neighborhood organization, the investigators posited that neighborhood crime is a function of informal social control against crime and informal organization in favor of crime. Informal neighborhood control against crime consists of neighborhood attachment, social capital, and collective efficacy. The study tested the hypothesis that individual social ties are explained by a rational choice model, which in turn produces neighborhood social capital that can be used to achieve collective goals. It also tested the hypothesis that neighborhoods rich in social capital had greater collective efficacy, which in turn, helped produce safe neighborhoods. Organization in favor of crime consists of violent codes of the street. The study tested the hypothesis that residents from disadvantaged neighborhoods tend to distrust police and other agents of conventional institutions, and consequently are more likely to participate in street culture, in which violence is a way of obtaining street credibility and status, as well as resolving disputes. The project has also examined dimensions of neighboring, and the causes and consequences of fear of crime.

The study used a telephone survey of households within all 123 census tracts in the city of Seattle, WA, conducted in 2002-2003. The sampling frame was designed by investigators at the University of Washington, with three objectives in mind: (a) to gain a random sample of households within each of 123 census tracts; (b) to obtain a disproportionate number of racial and ethnic minorities using an ethnic oversample; and (c) to obtain a replication sample of Terrance Miethe's 1990 victimization survey in 100 Seattle neighborhoods [Testing Theories of Criminality and Victimization in Seattle, 1960-1990]. Specific samples were drawn by Genesys, a sampling firm in Philadelphia, PA, using a constantly-updated compilation of white pages. Telephone interviews were conducted by the Social and Behavioral Research Institute at California State University, San Marcos, using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technology.

Respondents were asked about household demographics, such as race, gender, residential mobility, age distribution of the household, and income, their perceptions and assessments of their neighborhoods (including safety, disorder, and crime), neighbors, and relations with police. A variety of questions about neighboring were asked, including social capital (intergenerational closure, reciprocated exchange, and participation in neighborhood associations), attachment to their neighborhood, and collective efficacy (child-centered social control). Respondents were asked about routine activities including taking steps to protect their homes, spending time in bars and nightclubs, and leaving their home unattended. Questions about fear of crime included personal fear as well as altruistic fear for other members of the household, and questions about racial attitudes included residential preferences by race composition of the neighborhood. A victimization inventory modeled after the National Crime Victimization Survey was used for burglary, vandalism, stolen property, violence, and robbery. Demographic information includes age, race, sex, education, martial status, household income, whether respondent was a student, employment status, religious affiliation, approximate value of home, monthly rent including utilities, residence history in the last five years, whether respondent was born in the Unites States, and number of people currently living in the respondent's household.