title: Measuring sense of community: a view from the streets.
abstract: Increasing social capital in poor communities has become a common pursuit among policy-makers, social scientists and community practitioners alike. In this paper, we examine one dimension of social capital, sense of community (SOC), and argue that the dominant instruments used by scholars to measure it are limited. We examine qualitative data from surveys, focus groups and interviews with community leaders and residents in Baltimore, Maryland, to understand how community members conceptualize SOC and how they might measure it. We conclude with a discussion about how our findings can inform and strengthen future community-based research and community building initiatives.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, School of Social Work, Louis Kaplan Hall, 525 West Redwood St., Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. mmyer@ssw.umaryland.edu
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Mary Morris
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hyde
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jenkins
mesh_terms: D015142:Baltimore; D003625:Data Collection; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007857:Leadership; D011204:Poverty Areas; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012106:Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000145:classification*; D012938:Social Perception; D012944:Social Support; D012946:Social Welfare