Interviewers, Families and Neighborhoods Study

Posted by on October 07, 2013

Families and Neighborhoods Study
Yonsei University

The Philadelphia Families and Neighborhoods Studies (PFNS) is hiring interviewers to collect 300 interviews in randomly selected neighborhoods in Philadelphia county. The Families and Neighborhoods Study (FNS) is a study of informal social control of intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment in 6 countries. Conservative estimates show IPV kills 39,000 women annually around the globe (Emery, Wu & Raghavan, under review); maltreatment kills 1500 children annually in the U.S. alone (Hussey et al., 2006). Available evidence suggests that formal social control of IPV and child maltreatment in some neighborhoods may be weak or inconsistent. This means the presence and effectiveness of informal social controls may play a vital role in setting limits on the amount and severity of intimate partner violence and child maltreatment. If police are not responsive, responses of neighbors, friends and extended family to domestic violence and child maltreatment may be a matter of life or death.

The FNS develops measures of neighborhood and network informal social control specific to family violence and examines them with respect to IPV, child maltreatment, and IPV injury on representative, random, scientifically valid samples. At present, the FNS measures informal social control by extended family members, friends, and neighbors. To date, the FNS has collected random three stage cluster samples of families in 5 cities: Beijing (n=506), Seoul (n=541), Ulaan Baatar (n=250), Hanoi (n=293), and Kathmandu (n=300). The FNS will be implemented in Philadelphia (n = 300) in fall, 2013. Preliminary results suggest informal social control may have protective effects against severe child abuse and IPV.

Interviewers for the PFNS should be graduate students who are outgoing, have good social skills, and who are resilient to the rejection that is inherent in door to door survey work. Interviewers should also have a good command of the English language and be completely reliable, diligent, and responsible. Passionate interest in the areas of child maltreatment and IPV is a plus. The PI will provide a training for the PFNS on October 19th and 20th from 9 am to 6 pm. Attendance is the first step in the interviewer certification (hiring) process, which also includes a written exam and an oral certification interview.

Interviewers who successfully complete the certification process will be expected to complete at least 15 interviews in the following four weeks. Honors, letters of commendation and recommendation will be awarded to the best interviewers. Correctly completed interviews will be compensated at a piece rate of $15 per interview, paid in a lump sum when 15 interviews are completed. Interviews that violate study protocol will not be compensated.

Interested parties may contact:
Professor Clifton R. Emery
Primary Investigator, FNS
cemery@yonsei.ac.kr