TY - JOUR
T1 - The Limits of the Neighborhood Effect
T2 - Contextual Uncertainties in Geographic, Environmental Health, and Social Science Research
AU - Kwan, Mei Po
N1 - Funding Information:
This article draws on findings from research projects supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (R01DA028692-01), the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse, and the University of Illinois Research Board. I was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (#41529101) and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship while writing this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 by American Association of Geographers.
PY - 2018/11/2
Y1 - 2018/11/2
N2 - This article draws on recent studies to argue that researchers need to be attentive to the limits of the neighborhood effect as conventionally understood. It highlights the complexities of contextual influences and the challenges in accurately representing and measuring individual exposures to those influences. Specifically, it discusses the idiosyncratic and multidimensional nature of contextual effects, the temporal complexities of contextual influences, the frame dependence of exposure measures, selective mobility bias, and publication bias in neighborhood effects research. It also discusses how contextual uncertainties could be mitigated in future research (e.g., through collecting and using high-resolution space–time data and moving toward frame-independent exposure measures with results that are not affected by how data are organized with respect to space and time).
AB - This article draws on recent studies to argue that researchers need to be attentive to the limits of the neighborhood effect as conventionally understood. It highlights the complexities of contextual influences and the challenges in accurately representing and measuring individual exposures to those influences. Specifically, it discusses the idiosyncratic and multidimensional nature of contextual effects, the temporal complexities of contextual influences, the frame dependence of exposure measures, selective mobility bias, and publication bias in neighborhood effects research. It also discusses how contextual uncertainties could be mitigated in future research (e.g., through collecting and using high-resolution space–time data and moving toward frame-independent exposure measures with results that are not affected by how data are organized with respect to space and time).
KW - neighborhood effect
KW - publication bias
KW - selective mobility bias
KW - uncertain geographic context problem, UGCoP
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U2 - 10.1080/24694452.2018.1453777
DO - 10.1080/24694452.2018.1453777
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85046622390
SN - 2469-4452
VL - 108
SP - 1482
EP - 1490
JO - Annals of the American Association of Geographers
JF - Annals of the American Association of Geographers
IS - 6
ER -