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A Framework for Indicators and Decisionmaking 137
The two types of indicators on the right side of figure 4.1 reflect
results: (3) output or end-product descriptive indicators (the traditional
outcome indicators that analysts or activists care about, such as more
neighborhood residents being employed) and (4) side-effect descriptive
indicators (not the key results being sought, but relevant things
that occur because of the way the system operates in this context). In
the middle of the diagram are (5) analytic indicators that speak to the
cause-and-effect relationships between all the other types of indicators
in action. As shown in the diagram, Land refers to this as the social systems
model. In today’s community initiatives, this is often referred to as
the theory of change or, more simply, the logic model. This recognition
of the varying types and functions of indicators is the basis for our framing
of the main types of applications that are the foundations of work
with community indicators (presented in chapter 2).
Applications in the Community Indicators Field Today
We suggest that there are five basic types of applications that sometimes
individually, or more often in combination with each other, underlie virtually
all collective uses of community data. We briefly explain how each
of them works and discuss forces now influencing how they are being
conducted. Our conceptualization of the five basic types of applications
is derived mostly from framing developed by Land (1975) as discussed
above.
The uses of community information can be viewed as having systematic
relationships to one another. Although a group or organization
may well start with situation analysis, achieving impact will then require
planning policies and programs to respond to the findings, implementing
and monitoring those courses of action, and then researching causeand-effect
relationships to improve the model that serves as the basis for
planning. Our five types of applications, then, are as follows:
• Situation analysis examines indicator values on conditions and
trends to determine whether the circumstances in a community are
getting better or worse, to identify problems and opportunities, and
to gauge the relative importance of each. Land’s model points out
the importance of looking at context indicators as well as outcome
indicators to help understand the forces behind observed changes.