Neighborhoods And Violent Crime A Multilevel Study Of...

Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel study of Collective Efficacy Research Question The authors hypothesized in their study that concentrated disadvantage would decrease and residential stability would increase the collective efficacy of a neighborhood. In the study, concentrated disadvantage and residential stability were examined to determine if there is a relationship with interpersonal violence. It was also hypothesized that collective efficacy has some sort of an effect on neighborhood stratification (Sampson et al., 1997). In-depth examination of the data The study examined data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). They created 847 census tracts to create 343 neighborhood clusters. The†¦show more content†¦Measures There were several measures used in this study. One was informal social control. This was measured using a five-point Likert scale. â€Å"Residents were asked about the likelihood (‘would you say it is very likely, likely, neither likely nor unlikely, unlikely, or very unlikely’) that their neighbors could be counted on to intervene in various ways if (i) children were skipping school and hanging out on a corner, (ii) children were spray-painting graffiti on a local building, (iii) children were showing disrespect to an adult, (iv) a fight broke out in front of their house, and (v) the fire station closes to their home was threatened with budget cuts† (Sampson et al., 1997, 919-920). The second is social cohesion and trust. Social cohesion and trust was measured by a five-point Likert scale as well. They were asked how strongly they agree to the following statements: â€Å"people around here are willing to help their neighbors, this a close knit neighborhood, people in this neighborhood can be trusted, people in the neighborhood generally don’t get along with each other and people in this neighborhood don’t share the same values† (Sampson et al., 1997, 920). Violence was also measured. Violence was measured in three ways. The first was asking the residents how often certain situations occur in the neighborhood. Examples include a fight when a person used a weapon or if a violent argument occurred between neighbors. The second way is personal victimization. The