Peer Review

The Eviction Lab

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Aug 27, 2020 by Sociology

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

Through this website, the Eviction Lab has made nationwide eviction data publicly available and accessible. We hope this data is used by policymakers, community organizers, journalists, educators, non-profit organizations, students, and citizens interested in understanding more about housing, eviction, and poverty in their own backyards. You can look at evictions over time, map evictions in the United States, compare the eviction rates of different neighborhoods, cities, or states, and generate custom reports about America’s eviction epidemic. Researchers can use the data to help us document the prevalence, causes, and consequences of eviction and to evaluate laws and policies designed to promote residential security and reduce poverty. Together, we hope our findings will inform programs to prevent eviction and family homelessness, raise awareness of the centrality of housing insecurity in the lives of low-income families, and deepen our understanding of the fundamental drivers of poverty in America.

Type of Material:

Collection of materials on eviction in the United States.

Recommended Uses:

The material can be used by policy makers, community organisers, journalists, educators, non profit organizations, students and researchers to gather more information for their research work. This material would provide a good basis for any research into eviction. The provided maps and mapping data are ready made for student research.

Technical Requirements:

Tested in Firefox.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Provide information, data, and visualizations for eviction.

Target Student Population:

High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Analytical and research skills

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

1. It contains indepth information on eviction.

2. The data spans across a large segment of the population.

3. It contains a video that tells the story of eviction better and leaves a lasting imprint in the mind of the student and researcher.

4. It also includes frequently asked questions on those who want more information about how the data was collected.

Concerns:

1.The data presented on eviction spans from 2000 to 2016.

2. It needs to be updated.

3. Navigating to other pages to find information is not that easy.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

1. It creates custom maps, charts and reports that can be shared with the community.

2. The data can be used in a variety of ways to achieve learning goals.

3. It promotes graphical understanding of data.

Concerns:

1. Data on informal evictions were not captured in the data.

2. The teaching learning goals are not easily identified.

3. Additional information is needed to understand the material.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The site has a clear and consistent layout. The information is easy to access and it includes audio-visuals.
Concerns:: It can only be used by people who understand English and Spanish but not French. Explanation of how the data were gathered is not covered.

Other Issues and Comments:: The material should be updated as it doesn't include current data in the last four years.
Creative Commons: