Funded Research
Family Resource Allocation in Urban and Rural Communities
Source: National Science Foundation
Active: 08/15/04 - 07/31/06
Investigator(s):
Linda Burton
Stephen A. Matthews
Debra Skinner
Using ethnography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, we will conduct a novel, in-depth, comparative study of resource allocation in low-income families residing in large urban, small town, and rural communities. Resource allocation involves the procurement and distribution of material, emotional, and informational resources within and across generations in families. To examine this issue, we will analyze secondary data from two comparably-designed ethnographic studies, and supplement on-going data collection in one. Specifically, we will analyze longitudinal ethnographic data on low income families (including GIS data on their spatial and temporal use of resources) from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study and from the Family Life Project. The Three-City Study Ethnography was conducted in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio from June 1999 to August 2003 and comprises a sample of 256 low-income African American, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white families. The data include over 45,000 pages of fieldnotes and transcripts of participant interviews and observations, 3500 audio tapes, and key tables with life course and spatial resource use information. The Family Life Project, launched in October 2002 and continuing through October 2006, involves a sample of 72 low income African American and non-Hispanic white families. This ethnography is being conducted in small towns and rural communities in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. In addition to the analysis of secondary data, we plan to supplement on-going data collection in the Family Life Project by gathering more extensive ethnographic and GIS resource allocation data from families. We also will add ten Hispanic families to this ethnography so that the sample is ethnically comparable to Three-City Study. The specific aims of the proposed study are twofold. Our primary aim is to examine the relationship between intergenerational resource allocation, family roles, community resources, and social mobility in urban and rural settings. In doing so, we will: (1) identify and describe the types and nature of arrangements families create and sustain to acquire and distribute resources (e.g., money, in-kind help, emotional support) across generations; (2) assess how the generational acquisition and distribution of resources impact the roles of children, adults, and the elderly in families; (3) determine whether and how the accumulation of resources within kin networks is tied to institutional resources in the communities that families reside and spend time in; (4) examine the impact of these factors on the social mobility of mothers, fathers, and their children; and (5) determine whether the relationships among these factors differ within and across racially/ethnically diverse families residing in large cities, small towns, or isolated rural hamlets. Our second aim introduces a novel methodological approach. We will integrate ethnographic methods and data on families and communities with GIS technology to inform our understanding of intergenerational resource allocation in urban and rural communities. We have coined the integration of ethnographic/GIS methods and data, geo-ethnography. The work we propose is an interdisciplinary effort and draws upon and integrates multiple theoretical and methodological approaches. The conceptual model for the study derives from several strands of theoretical and empirical knowledge, including: (1) ethnographic research on low income families in urban and rural communities; (2) perspectives on community resources, local cultures, and the implementation of public policies in urban and rural settings; (3) intergenerational relationships and social networks research; (4) socio-cultural paradigms of family development; (5) economic models of household production and intergenerational transfers (6) social capital and social mobility; (7) contextual perspectives on human development; and (8) GIS technology. The methodological approach is embedded in the model “structured discovery.” Structured discovery is a set of strategies that we developed and use to conduct multi-investigator, multi-site, ethnographic research involving in-depth assessments of racially and geographically diverse families and communities. These strategies also comprise methodological principles that integrate multiple forms of data (e.g., fieldnotes, time diaries) from large ethnographic and GIS data sets. This study offers an unprecedented opportunity to advance knowledge on family resource allocation. Most notably, the proposed work will use data from two ethnographies that occupy a unique niche in the constellation of existing studies on family resource allocation. Unlike most studies of this topic, both the Three-City Study and the Family Life Project ethnographies were developed and conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers representing the fields of sociology, anthropology, geography, demography, human development, and life course and family studies. The conceptual and methodological approaches used in the both studies were greatly enhanced by integrating multiple perspectives. In addition, because of their large racially/ethnically diverse samples and comparable longitudinal designs, the studies will allow us to closely examine similarities and differences in resource allocation within and across low-income families over time in ways that have not been done in the previous research. Moreover, the integration of ethnographic and GIS methods and data represents a significant innovation in the field that will lead to new insights and contextually-sensitive understandings of resource allocation among low-income families.
