Resource Guide
Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods

Systematic Social Observations

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.

Sampling

Neighborhood Clusters: The PHDCN Scientific Directors defined neighborhoods spatially, as a collection of people and institutions occupying a subsection of a larger community. The project collapsed 847 census tracts in the city of Chicago to form 343 neighborhood clusters (NCs). The predominant guideline in formation of the NCs was that they should be as ecologically meaningful as possible, composed of geographically contiguous census tracts, and internally homogenous on key census indicators. The project settled on an ecological unit of about 8,000 people, which is smaller than the 77 established community areas in Chicago (of which the average size is almost 40,000 people), but large enough to approximate local neighborhoods. Geographic boundaries (e.g., railroad tracks, parks, and freeways) and knowledge of Chicago's neighborhoods guided this process.

National Opinion Research Center (NORC) prioritized the block faces (the block segment on one side of the street) by selecting random neighborhoods by stratum. Three neighborhoods were regarded as a unit of work. The priority list was followed essentially in order, although some areas were switched for logistic reasons or because some neighborhoods, deemed more dangerous or traffic-dense, were moved to Sunday morning taping slots.

For the 27,734 block faces identified, the following information was gathered:

  1. 22,418 block faces had complete observation logs and videotapes
  2. 1,395 block faces had incomplete observation logs and complete videotapes
  3. 2 block faces had incomplete observation logs and no videotapes
  4. 1 block face had a complete observation log, but no videotape
  5. 3,918 block faces did not exist. (These block faces were determined not to be block faces once out in the neighborhood. For example, new construction eliminated some block faces.)

A random subsample of 64% of the videotaped block faces was chosen to be coded. In those NCs consisting of 150 or fewer block faces, all block faces were coded. In the remaining block faces, sample sizes were calculated to approximate a balanced design as closely possible in order to maximize statistical power for comparisons of NCs. A total of 15,141 block faces were actually coded for an average of 189 block faces per NC. Thirty of the coded block faces had coding records but no observation logs and were thus excluded when the coding records and observation logs records were merged.

Units of Analysis

Each record in the SSO data file (ICPSR 13578) represents a block face. Data for 23,816 block faces were coded. Data can also be aggregated to the Neighborhood Cluster (NC).

Instruments and Measures

Systematic Social Observation SSO was a standardized approach for directly observing the physical, social, and economic characteristics of neighborhoods, one block at a time. In 1995, the PHDCN initiated a combined person-based and videotaped approach to collecting systematic observations of neighborhoods. Eighty of the Neighborhood Clusters were used in this study. Once the sampling was complete, the block face became the unit of observation. Using videotape and observer logs, data were collected in the 80 sampled Chicago neighborhoods. Only a sample of block faces were selected for coding due to the high cost of this labor-intensive work. NORC collected the data for the SSO. Between June and October of 1995, trained observers from NORC drove a sports utility vehicle down every block within the 80 sampled neighborhoods. A videographer videotaped both sides of each block, while two observers recorded characteristics of each block face on observer logs. Further coding of the videotapes and observer logs was conducted by NORC staff.

The researchers collected data on the following areas of interest: land use, residential housing, commercial industrial buildings, drinking establishments, recreational facilities, street conditions, the number of security persons, children, and teenagers visible, traffic, the physical condition of buildings, cigarettes and cigars on the street or in the gutter, garbage, litter on the street or sidewalk, empty beer bottles visible on the street, tagging graffiti, graffiti painted over, gang graffiti, abandoned cars, condoms on the sidewalk, needles and syringes on the sidewalk, and political message graffiti. Information was also gathered on adults loitering or congregating, people drinking alcohol, peer groups, gang indicators present, intoxicated people, adults fighting or hostilely arguing, prostitution on the street, and people selling drugs.

Scales

  • Physical Disorder
    1. OQ7 cigarette cigar on sidewalk/gutters
    2. OQ10 garbage litter in street sidewalk
    3. OQ6 empty beer bottles visible in streets
    4. D22_2 tagging graffiti
    5. D23 evidence-graffiti been painted over
    6. D22_1 gang graffiti
    7. OQ11 abandoned cars
    8. OQ8 condoms on the sidewalk gutter
    9. OQ9 needles syringes on sidewalks gutters
    10. D22_3 political message graffiti
  • Social Disorder
    1. D47 adults loiter congregate hang out
    2. D52 people drink alcohol on block face
    3. D43 peer group is a gang
    4. D53 drunken intoxicated people on block face
    5. D46 adults argue fight hostile
    6. D50 prostitutes on block face
    7. D51 people sell illegal drugs on block face
  • Physical Decay
    1. D6 condition of residential unit
    2. D121 burned out boarded abandoned house
    3. D122 burned out board abandoned commercial building
    4. D11 condition of building
    5. D1_4 land use vacant house
    6. D18 condition of recreational facility
  • Commercial Building Security
    1. D14 security bars gratings on building window
    2. D13 % properties with pull down metal gates
  • Alcohol/Tobacco Advertising
    1. D119 signs advertising tobacco products
    2. D120 signs advertising beer whiskey other alcohol
  • Bars/Liquor Stores
    1. D62 # bars and alcoholic beverage services
    2. D86 # liquor stores

References

Raudenbush, Stephen W., and Robert J. Sampson. "Ecometrics: Toward a Science of Assessing Ecological Settings, with Application to the Systematic Social Observation of Neighborhoods," Sociological Methodology, Vol. 29 (1999): 1-41.

Sampson, Robert J., and Stephen W. Raudenbush. "Seeing Disorder: Neighborhood Stigma and the Social Construction of 'Broken Windows,'" Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 67, 4 (2004): 319-342.

Sampson, Robert J., and Stephen W. Raudenbush. "Systematic Social Observation of Public Spaces: A New Look at Disorder in Urban Neighborhoods," The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 105, 3 (November 1999): 603-651.