GEOGRAPHIC DATA

 What is geography?

It is the study of the location and distribution of living things and earth features among which they live.

Geographers study where people, animals and plants live and their relationships with rivers, deserts and other earth features.

They examine where earth features are located, how they came to be there and why their location is important.

Overview of the evolution of geography as a discipline

To many people geography means different things and a geographer’s work in many cases is misunderstood by the general public.

People see geographers as those who poses knowledge of far distant places or possessing close to encyclopaedic knowledge of places and who are able to give you answers (many names and fact files) of different places at a click of a finger tip.

To others geographers are like moving atlases, they are genius on TV quizzes about people and places but have no other value beyond this knowledge.

Yet a third group associate geography with map and map making, simulating charts and globes without realizing that various global challenges and changes that are taking place throughout the world.

Geographers have a lot of work to do that contribute to the national development, We have to emphasize that modern geography doesn’t merely describe places or regions but goes on to analyse the various phenomenon in these places.

What do Geographers study?

In broad terms geographers deals with location, spatial relations, Regional characteristics and the forces that change the earth.

GEOGRAPHERS

Analyse the physical landscape and examine the relationships between places and offer explanations on the various observed and how these affects distribution of man and how is many economic and social activities.

Explores the relationship between the earth and its people through the study of place, space and environment- asking questions of where, what and also why and how?

Investigate the interrelationship between people and their physical environment (facts percell have no meaning it is information which is not the same as knowledge. They only have meaning if they are related or organised into some sort of system). And appreciate the complex interactions of people with their environment.

Examine regional differences, patterns and interrelationships and attempt to account for  them( the regional framework and analysis of specific regions) this is part of the dstudy of area differences.

Emphasise on spatial pattern and relationship so as to get a better understanding of both the physical and human world. In whatever data she/he studied the geographer looks for spatial form and spatial relations- pattern of distribution and interactions.

Studies the environment from the holistic perspective ( both its physical and human dimension) and thus adreses the natural resources upon which all life depends, their impacts on human activities and the wider social economic, political and cultural consequence of the interrelationship between the two.

SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO GEOGRAPHIC RESEARCH:

STAGES THROUGH WHICH GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACHES AND METHODS DEVELOPED

EXPLORATION PARADIGM

This was dominated by Ancient Greeks especially Plato who used the deductive method and Aristotle who used the inductive method. Their main concern was to answer the question what is where? They gave descriptions of places and different phenomena. They did not answer the questions: Why are the phenomena where they are located? And why do they behave that way?

  ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM PARADIGM

Why are the phenomena located where they are? They believed that the environment dictates the kind of activities to be done at a certain place.

This paradigm developed much in Europe.

It failed to answer the question; what is the influence of man in the environment.

The environment provides different options or alternatives to which you can put it; human beings make decision on what alternatives to take.

 The environment does not dictate decision making.

It failed to realise the interrelations between human beings and the environment

REGIONALISM (ARERIAL DIFFERENTIATION)

They believed that the phenomena behave as they are behaving due to regional differences.

Climate, soils and vegetation were taken as some of the criteria to define the region.

This paradigm divided the world into natural regions which are unique.

This uniqueness was rejected by some geographers: they claimed that it was difficult to demarcate regions which are permanently unique; it did not come with a clear testable way of assessing human impacts on the environment.

Regionalism changed into spatial analysis of geographic phenomena.

QUANTITATIVE REVOLUTION

It started in the US. It is an attempt to make Geography systematic science which can make laws and theories. It aimed at making geography scientific by using scientific methods.

In previous paradigms there were no laws and theories. The approaches were descriptive

The scientific approach uses the philosophy of mathematics and statistics to arrive at conclusions

ORIGINS AND NATURE OF QUANTITATIVE REVOLUTION

Regionalism in its various forms was the dominant geographical paradigm used in teaching and research in geography after replacing the environmental determinism and possibilism paradigm in 1930s and 1940s. However many geographers blamed it for the low self esteem of the discipline in the 1950s and argued that it did not afford the necessary balance between regional and systematic studies. They also argued that uniqueness of places that regionalism emphasized tended to ignore the search for generalization that would offer better explanations and allow for wider application and insight into geographical phenomenon. They believed that their approach and adoption of quantification by the wider geographical community would make geography to be more respected and recognised academically as capable of contributing worthy knowledge to solve the many problems that the society was facing in the 1960s as opposed to its then status that they considered to be intellectually weak, being held in low esteem by other discipline and being descriptive and lacking in theory.  The main difference with the regional school was the greater faith geographers had in their ability to produce laws and work within the accepted scientific methods that were increasingly defining social science research.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GEOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Any research is the logical process, i.e. appears logically. It possesses the following characteristics:

The research begins with the question in the mind of the researcher. This question should be intelligently asked in the presence of the phenomena that the researcher has observed and which disturbs him. The question may involve unresolved and confusing situation around you.

Research requires a plan: It is not aimless, undirected activity. It requires a definite plan direction and design. To ensure a good plan there should be:

A clear statement of the problem

Development of hypothesis

Data gathering and interpreting design

Test of hypothesis and an arrival at factually based conclusion

A research requires a clear statement of the problem: Here unanswered questions that the researcher finds indigenous to the research situation must be put clear at the very beginning of the research. Before we begin we need to understand the problem. We look at it objectively.

Any research deals with the main problem through sub problems. Most researchable problems have within them other problem areas of lesser breadth and importance

Research seeks direction through appropriate hypothesis or research questions, having set the research problem and the sub problems. The sub problems are then viewed through logical constructs.  “ A hypothesis is a logical supposition, a reasonable guess, an educated assumption which may give direction to thinking with respect to the problem and thus aid in solving it.

Research deals with facts and meanings: Having isolated the problem, subdivided it into appropriate sub problems, and formulated hypothesis or research questions which will suggest the direction in which the facts may lie, the next step is to collect whatever facts which may seem to be pertinent to the problem and to organize them into meaningful aggregates capable of being interpreted

Research is circular

TENETS/PILLARS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Science is an objective activity undertaken within very strict rules, and it involves the continuous excitement of search for new discoveries under a certain set of values universally subscribed to within academics.

The main tenets of academic research

Originality

Original work intends to discover new knowledge, addition of knowledge on existing knowledge, comparing of things and it is not duplicate.

Communality

Sharing of information with the public is expected after work. It can be done I publication, seminar, workshop or forum.

Disinterestedness

Objectivity not being guided by your opinions; use of scientific procedures

Universalism if a research is done in one area it should bring the same results on other areas with similar characteristics

Constructive criticism be ready to receive constructive criticism.

Steps in Scientific geography

Problem identification: A problem is anything that requires some explanation. A problem must be clearly defined. A problem can cover anything, e.g. population growth and plan, population movement, Dynamics of human settlements, Urbanization process, economic growth, etc.

Gathering available information or data: You need to read widely what has been written about that particular problem. Relevant information that is available must be collected. This data is available in statistical publications, books, journals, News media, census reports, Historical documents, research documents, etc

 Primary data or original data collection: Secondary data may not suffice the problem. The research has to collect original data. This is the data one collects from the field. A research advantageously collects from the field data that is relevant to the problem using different data collection techniques.

Classification or summarization of data: Data or facts that are collected must be organized or grouped to suit the study. The process is known as data classification. Items with similar characteristics are arranged in classes. Summarization is done so as to reduce bulkiness. Summarisation is done through techniques that give use of numerical descriptive values which come up with measures of central tendency, Deviation

Data analysis: Data is analysed so as to come up with explanations and conclusions. You derive meanings from the data through analysis and interpretation

Data presentation: The summarised data is presented using tables, values graphs, charts, diagrams, maps. Qualitative and quantitative measures help to understand the relationship between values.

Research process is circular

A point that needs to be stressed here is that research is hardly conclusive. This is because in exploring one area a researcher comes up with one or several problems that need resolving.

Research needs no to be seen as one time act static and an end itself. Genuine research is dynamic. It creates more problems than it solves. In deed reading through a number of research report you will notice that researchers point to areas of further research a suggestion that their studies uncovered many issues that need to be considered by themselves or other researchers.  Such is the nature of the discovery of truth. In this way therefore research is a circular process.

Nature of geographic data

What is data? Data is the body of information mostly presented in numerical form (sometimes found in a textual form)

Before any statistical analysis can take place data must be collected (Raw data

Characteristics of data:

Data are precise numerical facts: The information they give is quantitative rather than qualitative. They can therefore be manipulated statistically, they can be stored in digital forms e.g. tapes, CD-ROMs etc

Data is usually collected for a definite purpose. Collection of data must therefore take time, involve measurements and surveys of various types. The justification to collect data is to test a theory or hypothesis

Quality of data: The quality of data depends on reliability and accuracy of a researcher. Care must be taken during data collection. To maintain the quality of data certain things must be avoided in data collection: These include: Making mistakes, Subjectivity, biasness. The collection of data and methods/ techniques must suit the purpose of research. Data should be valid and reliable. To have good data you need to be objective rather than subjective.

Types of Geographical data:

Davis (1974) Insisted that the common feature of geographical data is the fact that it is spatially distributed over time and space. Geographical data have time and space.

The values of geographical data have been related to points, areas and lines. For instance when dealing with population data, the points can be used to represent the population density.

Forms of geographical data

Geographical data can take various forms including:

Altitude: Heights of landscapes, always presented in Metres. This data can be presented in form of contours.

Rainfall: A rain gauge is used to get the amount of rainfall in mm. This data can be presented in the form of isohyets.

Temperature: Presented in the form of isolines

Population statistics: Presented in the form of dots

Traffic flows: Presented in flow line map forms\

The aim of collecting all these data is to solve geographical problems

Types of Data:

Geographical data can be;

Individual or grouped data:

Individual data provides precise and specific values of every item in the sample population. This data is very informative, thus very difficult to tabulate if the data set is too large. It is suitable if the population is small.

Grouped data: This represents the grouped/class values information. The groups are formed arbitrary e.g. age groups. It is convenient when large numbers are involved in research

 Discrete or continuous data:

Discrete data: Data presented in whole numbers due to their nature e.g. Human beings, cars, etc

Continuous data: Presented in the value over a given range, temperature, rainfall, height, etc. It is the type of data where you can get fractions.

Primary and secondary data:

Primary data: Information acquired directly from the field

Secondary data: The kind of information obtained from other people’s findings

Why use statistical/ Quantitative methods in Geography?

They help to facilitate DESCRIPTION: Summarising or converting information into mathematical language enables one to easily understand and interpret the phenomena. It enables easy comparison of results. Enables the understanding of the phenomena. It enables the reduction of massiveness of data. It is good for the manageability of information. Enables the researcher to quantify data by giving numbers to data in a way that data becomes objective and look scientific.

Statistical methods enable facilitation of induction/ making of inferences. Generally the whole information is very difficult is very difficult to study. Statistical methods make it easier to generalise information about population from the sample. It enables to make inferences about the whole population leading to objective decisions.

Statistical methods enable researchers to test the significance of the results. They test the relationships between sample data whether they are significant or a result of chance.

Statistical methods allow the making of predictions: Predicting what may happen in future. This requires understanding of past events. The past events on the context of geography are spatial. They may be past while existing. With this knowledge prediction of the future is possible

Problems of geographic data collection

Limited time: the amount of time available to a researcher determines the research design, the type of data to be collected, analysis strategy, etc

Reliability and accuracy. This mostly concerned with stability and consistency. If not acquired the data collected can not be reliable. Lack of reliability and accuracy leads to biases and invalidity. Highly unreliable measures can not be valid.

Inability to reach certain populations (inaccessibility). Certain populations may not be accessible e.g. due to remoteness (topography)

Data disaggregation

Introduction of errors

SOME CURRENT RESEARCH INTEREST IN GEOGRAPHY

The damage to the environment that has resulted to challenges of

·       Global warming

·       Loose of biodiversity

·       Pollution

·       Exposition of finite resources

The increase force of global debts and globalisation.

To solve this problem the developing countries has to exact pressure on natural resources.

 Information revolution

Spatial diffusion have been fostered by ICT revolution in the way world have been unified in terms of corporate and finance for Example agricultural information for multilateral corporations.   Change from agriculture to industry which leads to change from village to urban.

Estrangement and conflict of different types Eg

·       From religion racism

·       Cultural conflict and conflict over natural resources

Disaster preparedness and mitigation

Transportation networks and their efficiency level

Environmental monitoring

 e.g. environmental degradation such as deforestation and overstocking.

PURPOSES OF RESEARCH

Research involves carrying out a diligent inquiry or critical examination of a given phenomenon such as a critical analysis of existing conclusion or theories visa vies newly discovered facts.

The purpose for any research include all or some of the following

                           i.          To discover new knowledge ie new ideas or new facts

                         ii.          To identify and describe new phenomenon

                       iii.          To make predictions and make estimation of a phenomenon

                       iv.          Enable control

                         v.          Offer explanation of a phenomenon based upon described characteristics ( give a critical reasons why something is happening) for example there is a very high drop out rate why

Why there is low crop production or why road accident or impacts of rainfall variability or what can maintain price of a particular crop in the market.

                       vi.          Enable theory development or confirmation, validation of existing theories (basic research) or develop new ideas that strengthen a theory.

                     vii.          Solve a specific problem i.e. in agriculture genetically modified food (GMF)

 TYPES OF RESEARCH

Research is classified according to

                           i.          Data collection

                         ii.          Analysis

                       iii.          Purpose

Classification of research according to purpose

·       Applied research

·       Basic research

·       Action research

·       Evaluation research

Classification of research according to data analysis

·       Qualitative research

·       Quantitative research

Classification of research according to data collection methods

·       Survey research

·       Historical research

·       Descriptive research

·       Case study research

·       Experimental research

How do we identify a specific research problem?

·       From existing literature ie systematic reading of previous research work and or published books

·       Existing theories

·       Opinion/ insights from experts/ peers

·       Media reports ( things which are frequently reported ie news papers, radios, TV

·       Personal experience/ practical issue ( the work related experiences ie technological change and experience.

·       New policy

Single out the problem of study

Strategies used in social science research

       i.          Survey

     ii.          Case study

   iii.          Experimental strategy

   iv.          Ethnography

Survey strategy

It is characterised by one common thing wide and inclusive coverage, Bringing things up to date. Getting snapshot of how things are at a specific time during the survey.

Case study

It is an in-depth study of a particular situation or event

Experimental strategy

Manipulation of circumstances, identifying significant factors, introducing or excluding some factors from the situation, observing effects (manipulation and control)

Ethnography

Here is not an interview to people for little time but one need to spend a lot of time with people whose culture you want to understand.

Example why people prefers this? Why they live there and how they passive life.

Which strategy is most suitable 

There is no one right strategy or correct strategy in doing a research.

There is no best strategy but the one which can help to solve a problem is the best.

The strategy should be taken prio for the research so choose the best suited according to the purpose.

How do we know that this strategy is good?

There are a number of criteria to consider and these include

       i.          Relevance

     ii.          Feasibility

   iii.          Accuracy

   iv.          Objectivity

     v.          Coverage

   vi.          Ethics

 Relevance

Does the research you intend to carry out address current issue in a society

a)     Current – commonly talk about and affect people ie environmental degradation, governance

                   (Corruption) the impact of governance on management and sustainable utilization of natural resources (disease environment and poverty)

b)     Will your research build upon existing knowledge? Is it going to make a contribution on what is being known?

c)     Are you going to use the existing theory? are specific theory being tested

d)     Is your research coming with new theory?

Feasibility

Is the question about be done? (Can your research be done?)

Criteria for feasibility

a)     Time – is there sufficient time for you to do a research, i.e. to collect data, analyse and come up with results. How much time are you locating in design, analyse and writing a report.

b)      Resources – do you have enough resources to cover your research (i.e. financial resources)

c)     Accessibility – information can be available but not accessible. The research design should make sure that information is accessible. Ie one is doing a research in rain season when roads are not passable. Or assume the information available is for nationals and not for foreigners.

 Accuracy

 Criteria for accuracy

a     Will the research you want to carry out provide true and honest findings

b    Precise and detailed data ( full and honest answer to questions)

     Do you as a researcher focus on vital issue

Objectivity

Criteria for objectivity

a)     Will the research give you a fair and balanced picture

b)     Will the research provide an option of free for personal values, believes and background

c)     Will the researcher maintain an open mind about the findings as well as be able to recognise limitations about the approach taken. 

Coverage

·       You need to question whether the all right things have been included

·       All the questions should cover the issues being investigated ie people and events. The extent of responses ( the response rate)

Ethics

·       Ethics has to do rights and feelings affected by research that you conduct.

(Because of money respondents can give or not give or exaggerate the information)

·       Avoid deceiving people who are going to give you data  use an informed concent ( truth information)

·       Avoid misrepresentation

·       Protect the identities of people whom you are conducting a research on.