Social capital measurement 101: Key considerations for research, practice, and beyond

Facilitator/s:

Eunice Park, Department of Public Health, Montclair State University

Workshop Description:

Measuring social capital is a widely known challenge that we face. This beginner-friendly workshop will provide the essential steps, common missteps, and examples. This session will build on Tristan Claridge’s “Navigating social capital theory and literature,” moving from what it is to how it is measured.

This interactive session provides a practical roadmap for operationalizing social capital in research and practice. Participants will learn how theoretical choices shape measurement decisions and how to avoid the most common mistakes. Through guided examples, we will unpack survey items and indices to reveal how wording, scaling, and context affect interpretation. By the end of the session, we will collectively think of responsible use of reliable, equitable, and context-sensitive measures.

Whether your focus is academic, applied, or policy-driven, this workshop will give you an opportunity to test practical tools to measure social capital rigorously and meaningfully.

Objectives or Learning Outcomes:

Link theoretical frameworks of social capital to appropriate measurement strategies.
Identify the advantages and limitations of common survey items and indices.
(Apply an equity lens to ensure measures reflect diverse populations and contexts.)

Intended Audience:

Anyone who has an introductory understanding of social capital theory (or who have attended the companion “Navigating Social Capital Theory and Literature” workshop) and wants to measure social capital better.

All are welcome, including but not limited to researchers, community leaders, practitioners, students.

About the Facilitator/s:

Eunice Park, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Montclair State University whose research centers on social capital and population health, across multiple communities and geographies. In grad school, she focused on neighborhood-level sense of community and social support and its association to mental health. At Montclair, the work expanded to include student belonging in higher education and its association to mental health. Her areas of interest include social capital, early adult-onset hearing loss, measurement, health justice, and systems thinking.

As the Chair of the International Social Capital Association’s Measurement Interest Group, she convenes scholars and practitioners to tackle persistent concerns in measurement and co-develop practical tools that are applicable across settings.