AICP Research and Assessment Methods 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A planner conducting a housing needs assessment wants to understand the lived experiences of residents in a displacement-threatened neighborhood. Which method is MOST appropriate?
- Telephone survey with random digit dialing
- Ethnographic fieldwork with in-depth interviews (Correct answer)
- Secondary analysis of Census American Community Survey data
- Spatial analysis of parcel records
Correct answer: Ethnographic fieldwork with in-depth interviews
Ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews capture qualitative lived experiences that quantitative or secondary data methods cannot.
Question 2: Which statistical measure best describes the spread of household income data around the mean in a community needs assessment?
- Median
- Mode
- Standard deviation (Correct answer)
- Interquartile range
Correct answer: Standard deviation
Standard deviation measures the average distance of data points from the mean, indicating income variability around the central value.
Question 3: A city wants to evaluate whether a new transit line caused increased retail sales in adjacent corridors. The MOST rigorous quasi-experimental design would be:
- Before-and-after comparison in the transit corridor only
- Difference-in-differences comparing the corridor to a control area over time (Correct answer)
- Cross-sectional survey of corridor business owners post-opening
- Expert opinion from transit planners
Correct answer: Difference-in-differences comparing the corridor to a control area over time
Difference-in-differences compares changes in treatment and control areas, controlling for pre-existing trends and isolating the transit effect.
Question 4: In a Delphi method study, what happens after the first round of expert responses?
- Results are published and the process ends
- Responses are aggregated and anonymously fed back to experts for revision (Correct answer)
- A facilitator selects the single best answer
- Experts debate each other in a public forum
Correct answer: Responses are aggregated and anonymously fed back to experts for revision
The Delphi method uses iterative anonymous feedback rounds, allowing experts to revise opinions based on group results until consensus emerges.
Question 5: A planner uses GIS to overlay flood zones, low-income census tracts, and age of housing stock. This type of analysis is BEST described as:
- Regression modeling
- Spatial overlay analysis (Correct answer)
- Network analysis
- Kernel density estimation
Correct answer: Spatial overlay analysis
Spatial overlay analysis combines multiple geographic layers to identify areas meeting multiple criteria simultaneously.
Question 6: When a researcher increases sample size in a quantitative study, which outcome is MOST likely?
- The sample becomes more biased
- Statistical power increases and margin of error decreases (Correct answer)
- Validity of individual responses increases
- The study becomes qualitative in nature
Correct answer: Statistical power increases and margin of error decreases
Larger samples reduce sampling error and increase statistical power, making it easier to detect true population differences.
Question 7: A planner reviewing an environmental impact assessment notices that the document relies on outdated traffic count data from a decade ago. This is PRIMARILY a concern about:
- External validity
- Data reliability and currency (Correct answer)
- Construct validity
- Sampling bias
Correct answer: Data reliability and currency
Using outdated data undermines reliability because the data no longer accurately represents current conditions relevant to the assessment.
AICP Research and Assessment Methods 2
A planner conducting a housing needs assessment wants to understand the lived experiences of residents in a displacement-threatened neighborhood.
Which method is MOST appropriate?