Is Disorder Really in the Eye of the Beholder? Extending the Ecometric Framework for the Measurement of Neighborhood Disorder

• In Event: Do We See the Same Things? Methodological Issues in the Study of Social and Physical Disorder

Abstract

A key issue in the study of disorder revolves around the difference between perceptions of disorder and objective manifestations of disorder. Prior research (i.e., Raudenbush & Sampson, 1999) has examined this relationship in the context of larger—spatially operationalized—neighborhoods. While informative, the methodological limitations of this work (i.e., setting, independent observers, and potential censoring effects) and theoretical advancements (i.e., egohoods; Hipp & Boessen, 2013) make it is necessary to reexamine the issue. Using data from a community survey collected by the sheriff’s office, this study examines the reliability of residents’ perceptions of neighborhood disorder in unincorporated Hillsborough county (Florida) using modern psychometric techniques (i.e., many-facets Rasch modeling and Generalizability Theory). Results are discussed in the context of theoretical and methodological concerns.

Author

• Jon Maskaly, University of Texas at Dallas