Quantitative Geography - Essay Example

 Quantitative Geography Overview Geography is the science of our world. This simple, yet powerful and resonating statement not only explains the purpose of geography as a science, but, at the same time, opens new doors and allows us to look upon it as a building stone to understanding a host of human activities, many of which are not connected to geography in a traditional way. (GIS website,2007) These new doors could be opened mainly because of the use of Geographic Information System (GIS). The powerful system integrates different types of software and hardware and couples them with data thus allowing scientists to capture, manage, analyze and display different forms of geographical information. The purpose of GIS is to make possible to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways and reveal relationships, patterns, and trends. GIS findings are, then, presented in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts, easily understandable and, simultaneously, revealing. It is not a surprise that GIS data today is used by thousands of organizations from different segments of life, from businesses, governments, educators and scientists, environmental and conservation organizations to natural resource groups and utilities. GIS is helpful in solving problems and improving processes, increasing profits, improving services, bettering education at all levels and allowing for more proper use of our natural resources.(GIS website,2007) Geographic Approach The combination of geography as a scientific branch and GIS as a way of utilizing geographic information brings us a new idea, one of geographic approach. It is a new way of thinking and problem solving that integrates geographic information into how we understand and manage our planet. This approach allows us to create geographic knowledge by measuring the earth, organizing this data, and analyzing and modeling various processes and their relationships. The Geographic Approach also allows us to apply this knowledge to the way we design, plan, and change our world. All of the above became really essential in the aftermath of industrial and technological boom in the last two centuries, one that came at a great price of serious depletion of natural sources and a serious worries about the future of our planet. Positivism In its nutshell, Geographic approach is just like any scientific, analytical method. It calls for several steps, all of which are necessary in obtaining an end result that is scientifically tested and valuable. The approach should start with asking a question, more precisely with framing a question from o geographically based perspective. This step must define the issue as accurately as possible. The process should continue with acquiring, examining and analyzing data needed, the longest phase which requires determining what kind of data is needed, where the data could be found and if there is a need for more of it. The process should end with a plan of action. In this regard, geographic approach is no different from the traditional view of positivism which holds that the scientific method is the best approach to uncovering the processes by which both physical and human events occur.(Cohen and Maldonado, 2007) Positivism itself has been a predominant way of thinking since the ancient Greeks, although it is often said that the concept was fully developed and described by a French philosopher and sociologist Auguste Comte.(Sociology Guide) Its main assertion is that sense experience and positive verification are two only sources of any authentic knowledge. The concept leans on assumptions and beliefs that the goal of any inquiry is to explain, that scientific knowledge is testable, that research should be deductive by nature and, finally, that science and common sense do not mix. (Halfpenny,1982) The Comte’s original concept was later built on by Emile Durkheim who is regarded as a founder of social research, and soon after, both become objects of criticism, spearheaded by a German sociologist Max Weber. Historically, positivism has been criticized for its universalism, for contending that all "processes are reducible to physiological, physical or chemical events," that "social processes are reducible to relationships between and actions of individuals," and that "biological organisms are reducible to physical systems." (Bullock and Trombley,1999) The criticism persists today and in our modern times even positivists themselves are aware of flaws in the concept. In most recent years positivism became a synonym with quantitative research which will be discussed in more detail later on. Critique of Positivism The criticism of positivistic concept echoed in geography in the 1950’s. That is when a quantitative method was introduced into the discipline enabling geographers to formulate geographical theories and subject the theories to empirical tests and hypothesis tests which was usually done by using statistical methods. This quantitative revolution laid the groundwork for the development of geographic information systems and well-known geographers from that period like Fred K. Schaefer, Waldo Tobler, father of first law of geography and William Garrison all made significant contributions to it. These efforts, in turn, made way for critical geography which arose as a critique of positivism. The first strain of critical geography to emerge was humanistic geography. Humanistic geographers focused on people's sense of, and relationship with, places. Even more influential was Marxist geography, that applied the social theories of Karl Marx and his followers to geographic phenomena. Feminist geography used ideas from feminism in geographic contexts. Most recent strain of critical geography is postmodernist geography, which employs the ideas of postmodernist and poststructuralist theorists to explore the social construction of spatial relations. Quantitative Research As mentioned the real revolution in modern geography started half a century ago when quantitative research methods were more widely introduced. In social sciences, quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and hypotheses tied to particular phenomena. The process of measurement is key to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships.(Hunter and Leahey, 2008) Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research Quantitative research is used widely in social sciences such are psychology, sociology, geography, anthropology, and political science. While in natural sciences any research is quantitative by definition, thus leaving no room for different interpretations, in social sciences quantitative is often times contrasted with qualitative research. The latter does not rely on statistics and mathematics, and is more concerned with the examination, analysis and interpretation of observations for the purpose of discovering underlying meanings and patterns of relationships, including classifications of types of phenomena and entities. Simply put, qualitative research tries to delve deeper beneath the numbers and measurements. Some experts say that qualitative and quantitative research do go hand in hand while others draw a clear line between the two, claiming that qualitative research gives scientists a general sense of phenomena, allows them to form theories that can be, subsequently, tested using further quantitative research. Both sides of the argument presented here raise valid points and, together, fully explain the relation between two types of research. Statistics and Measurements Quantitative research and analysis are heavily reliant upon statistics. Statistics is the most widely used branch of mathematics in quantitative research and statistical methods are used extensively within fields of economics and various social sciences and, also, biology. Quantitative research using statistical methods starts with the collection of data, based on the hypothesis or theory. Usually a big sample of data is collected, a sample that is in the next phase of the process validated, verified and properly record before analysis takes place. A fundamental principle in quantitative research is that correlation does not imply causation. Collected data is, in the analyzing phase, then, measured in numbers that are exact and can expose underlying relationships and factors. The role of measurement in quantitative research is debatable, but more often described as crucial. Quantitative methods are research techniques that are used to gather quantitative data that is measurable. Statistics, tables and graphs, are often used to present the results of these methods. Quantitative Research and GIS As stated before, GIS emerged in the 1950’s as a result of wide introduction of quantitative research and analysis in the field of geography. As such GIS was always a cornerstone of quantitative geographical analysis. In the very beginnings GIS, compared to its possibilities today, was limited. With rapid technological developments the system grew constantly and still is. Today, numerous software programs and hardware components enhance GIS in ways unimaginable before. The list of uses of GIS in not only geography, but many other scientific disciplines is long. A map of locations of earthquakes is used in creating and updating building codes in the United States. A bank uses GIS maps to target specific areas with specific services. Media utilizes GIS when analyzing ratings, or on a more local level to inform local audience about street closings and possible travel delays. Retail businesses rely heavily on GIS to advertise their products to specific geographic locations. Governments around the world trust in GIS technology to help them regulate policies, while cities like Madrid and Paris provide many services to its citizens based on GIS data. U.S. Census in that regard is one of the agencies that use GIS the most.(GIS website,2008) GIS is very helpful in homeland security, military defense, law enforcement, power management, telecommunications, education, conservation of water, land, wildlife and vegetation. Abandonment of Quantitative Analysis Toward the end of the 20th century once highly appraised quantitative method, however, was abandoned by the majority of geographers, all the while other scientific disciplines were recognizing its importance. The most common reason for that was according to Stewart Fotheringham’s book “Quantitative Geography: Perspectives on Spatial Data Analysis, (2000)”, disillusionment on the part of geographers with the positivist philosophical underpinnings of much of the early work in quantitative geography. Others claimed that quantitative methods are too difficult to understand by both students and academia. Due to that quantitative geography and its area of expertise were more and more viewed as static and not producing research that bears significance. Fotheringham (2000) however, asserts that in spite of that view there have been a large number of major intellectual changes in recent years. Those, according to him, were not simply developments of new techniques and technologies, but also reflect deep philosophical changes in the way quantitative geography is approached. Therefore, quantitative geography showed vitality and resilience, changed rapidly from what it used to be two decades or even one decade ago, and developed fresh methods for research that recognize the fact that spatial data have unique properties, best explained by quantitative research. In this regard, Fotheringham gives special place to new developments in visualization, exploratory data analysis, spatial statistical inference, and most importantly GIS based forms of spatial analysis. (Fotheringham, 2000) Rebirth While Auguste Comte’s original concept of positivism was slowly critiqued and surely disregarded by many in the scientific world, quantitative research and analysis were among the first victims. Because they lean heavily on deduction, statistics and verification by senses, as soon as positivism came in question, they were too. Qualitative research was a new fashion, although it did not give full answers to any of researched issues. But, the overall climate for the growth of qualitative over quantitative was there, the quest for individual examples as opposed to group statistics was on and the scientific community gladly accepted the role of crusaders. This was the case in all the fields, including geography. Simultaneously with this shift, Geographic Information System(GIS) was growing and developing. And, as noted by Fotheringham, other sciences began to appreciate the possibilities of GIS, started to use it frequently and differently. (Fotheringham, 2000) The examples of that were listed before. All of a sudden, GIS was very useful, if not for its mother discipline, to the others. Technological developments made GIS accessible for many organizations and individuals and it was clear that GIS can explain patterns, changes and improve lives of many. Then, geography and its graduates became aware of these facts, realized that, after all GIS is their own product and introduced it back into the science of our world. Where it should be. References Fotheringham, S., Brunsdon, C.: “Quantitative Geography: Perspectives on Spatial Analysis.” London, 2000: Sage Publications GIS website. Available at www.gis.com Retrieved on 24 November 2010. Hunter, L., Leahey, E. 2008. "Collaborative Research in Sociology: Trends and Contributing Factors". American Sociologist 39 Cohen, L., Maldonado, A. (2007). "Research Methods In Education". British Journal of Educational Studies (Routledge) 55: 9. Sociology Guide. Available at www.sociologyguide.com. Accessed 24 November 2010 from http://www.sociologyguide.com/thinkers/Auguste-Comte.php Bullock, A., and Trombley, S. “ The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought”. London: Harper-Collins, 1999 Read More