Combining GIS and Ethnography to Explore Social Networks and Neighborhood Resource Use among Low-Income Families

Stephen Matthews, Pennsylvania State University
Tera R. Hurt, Pennsylvania State University
Linda M. Burton, Pennsylvania State University

This paper focuses on the use of social networks and neighborhood resources by low-income families. Ethnographic data from the Three City Study of Welfare, Children and Families includes information on residence and employment histories, social networks, and use of family and child-based neighborhood resources. These ethnographic data have been geocoded and linked to secondary geospatial data on demographics, land use, crime and other neighborhood resources and risks. This coupling of ethnographic and geospatial data facilitates a more flexible "viewing" of families. That is, we can situate families in broader geographic contexts and visualize the different strategies they employ in regard to the use of neighborhood resources and social networks. In this paper we compare and contrast the use of neighborhood resources and social networks in families residing in the same neighborhoods. In doing so we hope to shed an "ethnographic" light on the complex and reciprocal relationship between families and neighborhoods.