Spark Talk: “Measuring and Modeling Neighborhoods” by Cory McCartan (Feb. 7th, 2025)
Feb 7, 2025
10:30AM to 11:30AM
Date/Time
Date(s) - 07/02/2025
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Description: Studying neighborhoods is important, but difficult, because they vary from person to person. We have developed an open-source survey instrument that allows researchers to collect individuals’ subjective neighborhoods, and build a statistical model to analyze how the individual and geographic characteristics shape these neighborhoods. Applying our tool and model to a survey in 3 U.S. cities, we found that respondents’ neighborhoods are more likely to include areas with racially and politically similar individuals.
Bio: Cory McCartan is the “Hoben and Patricia Thomas and Thomas and Ann Hettmansperger Early Career Professor of Statistics,” and a faculty affiliate in political science, at Penn State University. His research focuses on methodological and applied problems in the social sciences, including elections, legislative redistricting, racial disparities, and missing data.