AICP Research and Assessment Methods 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which approach to community engagement in planning research is MOST consistent with Participatory Action Research (PAR)?
- Researchers design the study and present findings to the community at the end
- Community members are co-researchers who help define questions, collect data, and act on findings (Correct answer)
- A random sample of residents completes an online survey
- An expert panel reviews secondary data and makes recommendations
Correct answer: Community members are co-researchers who help define questions, collect data, and act on findings
PAR involves communities as active partners throughout the research process, from problem definition to data collection and action.
Question 2: A planner uses a five-point Likert scale to measure resident satisfaction. This type of data is BEST classified as:
- Nominal
- Ratio
- Ordinal (Correct answer)
- Interval
Correct answer: Ordinal
Likert scale responses represent ranked categories with no true equal intervals between points, making them ordinal data.
Question 3: When evaluating an affordable housing program, a planner wants to establish a counterfactual. The BEST approach would be to:
- Interview only program participants about their housing outcomes
- Compare outcomes for program participants against a matched comparison group that did not participate (Correct answer)
- Review program administrative records going back five years
- Survey local real estate agents about market conditions
Correct answer: Compare outcomes for program participants against a matched comparison group that did not participate
A matched comparison group approximates the counterfactual—what would have happened to participants without the program—enabling causal inference.
Question 4: In a multivariate regression model predicting median home values, a planner finds that R² = 0.82. This means:
- 82% of the variance in home values is explained by the independent variables in the model (Correct answer)
- 82% of homes are valued correctly by the model
- The model has an 18% margin of error
- 82% of the regression coefficients are statistically significant
Correct answer: 82% of the variance in home values is explained by the independent variables in the model
R² represents the proportion of variance in the dependent variable explained by all independent variables in the regression model.
Question 5: A planner conducts a focus group about park amenities with eight participants. The MAIN advantage of this method over individual interviews is:
- Results can be generalized to the full park user population
- Group interaction can surface shared perspectives and spark ideas not captured individually (Correct answer)
- It eliminates social desirability bias
- It produces statistically representative data
Correct answer: Group interaction can surface shared perspectives and spark ideas not captured individually
Focus groups leverage group dynamics and interaction, allowing participants to build on each other's ideas and reveal collective perspectives.
Question 6: Which data source would a planner MOST likely use to identify patterns of residential segregation by race at the neighborhood level?
- Decennial Census or American Community Survey tract-level data (Correct answer)
- IRS individual tax return records
- State DMV vehicle registration data
- Local school district average test scores
Correct answer: Decennial Census or American Community Survey tract-level data
The Decennial Census and ACS provide race and ethnicity data at the census tract level, the standard geography for neighborhood-level segregation analysis.
Question 7: A planner must assess traffic impacts for a mixed-use development proposal. Which document provides standardized trip generation rates most planners use as a starting point?
- FHWA Highway Capacity Manual
- ITE Trip Generation Manual (Correct answer)
- AASHTO Policy on Geometric Design
- NCHRP Report 365
Correct answer: ITE Trip Generation Manual
The ITE Trip Generation Manual provides empirically derived trip generation rates for hundreds of land uses, serving as the standard reference for traffic impact studies.
AICP Research and Assessment Methods 4
Which approach to community engagement in planning research is MOST consistent with Participatory Action Research (PAR)?