New Options for Understanding and Dealing with Index Bias

Abstract

In this chapter I introduce a new approach for addressing the problem of index bias at the point of measurement. Specifically, I introduce new formulations of popular indices of uneven distribution that are free of bias and take expected values of zero when individuals and households are randomly assigned to residential locations. I accomplish this task by drawing on the difference of means formulations of segregation indices introduced in earlier chapters to first identify and then eliminate the root source of bias in standard versions of popular indices of uneven distribution. The crucial insight from the difference of means formulation is that the values for all popular indices of uneven distribution can be seen as resting on person-specific scores for pairwise group contact (p). Close consideration reveals that the source of index bias is found in these group contact scores. Happily, a surprisingly simple refinement in the calculation of these scores eliminates index bias.