Exploiting Spatial Dependence to Improve Measurement of Neighborhood Social Processes

Bibliographic Data

ID6169876
AuthorsNatalya Verbitsky Savitz (Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.), Stephen W Raudenbush (University of Chicago)
Year2009
Volume39
Issue1
Pages151-183
Publication date2009-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Methodology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0081-1750 • E-ISSN: 1467-9531
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9531.2009.01221.x
OpenAlexW2142613877
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited46

A number of recent studies have used surveys of neighborhood informants and direct observation of city streets to assess aspects of community life such as collective efficacy, the density of kin networks, and social disorder. Raudenbush and Sampson (1999a) have coined the term “ecometrics” to denote the study of the reliability and validity of such assessments. Random errors of measurement will attenuate the associations between these assessments and key outcomes. To address this problem, some studies have used empirical Bayes methods to reduce such biases, while assuming that neighborhood random effects are statistically independent. In this paper we show that the precision and validity of ecometric measures can be considerably improved by exploiting the spatial dependence of neighborhood social processes within the framework of empirical Bayes shrinkage. We compare three estimators of a neighborhood social process: the ordinary least squares estimator (OLS), an empirical Bayes estimator based on the independence assumption (EBE), and an empirical Bayes estimator that exploits spatial dependence (EBS). Under our model assumptions, EBS performs better than EBE and OLS in terms of expected mean squared error loss. The benefits of EBS relative to EBE and OLS depend on the magnitude of spatial dependence, the degree of neighborhood heterogeneity, as well as neighborhood's sample size. A cross-validation study using the original 1995 data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and a replication of that survey in 2002 show that the empirical benefits of EBS approximate those expected under our model assumptions; EBS is more internally consistent and temporally stable and demonstrates higher concurrent and predictive validity. A fully Bayes approach has the same properties as does the empirical Bayes approach, but it is preferable when the number of neighborhoods is small

Bayes' theorem · Bayesian probability · Econometrics · Empirical research · Estimator · Ordinary least squares · Sample (material · Spatial dependence · Statistics · Computer Science · Mathematics · Spatial and Panel Data Analysis · Urban Transport and Accessibility · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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