GEOG 204 Introductory GIS for the Social Sciences

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GEOG 204Introductory GIS for the Social Sciences

• The Effects of Neighbourhood
• 21 October 2009
• Neil Hanlon

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OUTLINE

• Neighbourhood effects
• Characterizing neighbourhoods
• An application (in progress)
• Discussion
• Further reading

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Neighbourhood (place) effects

• Recall earlier lecture
• Social area analysis, urban ecology, social
  ecology
• Idea that aspects of a local environment (e.g.,
  neighbourhood, district, place) influence
  individual experiences and behaviours (e.g.,
  Frohlich et al. 2001 Macintyre et al. 2002)
• Access to resources and goods
• Peer pressure, norms of behaviour
• Exposure to risks and hazards

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Neighbourhood (place) effects

• Issues of definition and scale
• Modifiable area unit problem (e.g., Ross et al.
  2004 Schuurman et al. 2007)
• A typology of effects (McIntyre et al. 2002)
• Compositional (socio-demographic profile)
• Contextual (proximity of resources,
  opportunities, risks)
• Collective (local customs, beliefs, ways of doing
  things)

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Characterizing neighbourhoods

• Two basic approaches
• Qualitative
• Quantitative
• Data collection
• Collect your own primary data
• Observational, survey and/or interview
• Make use of secondary data
• Public directories, satellite imagery, etc.
• Re-use someone elses observational or survey
  data
• E.g., Census

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Characterizing neighbourhoods

• Options
• Collect your own primary data
• Observational
• Survey
• Make use of secondary data
• Public directories
• Internet, satellite imagery, etc.
• Re-use someone elses observational or survey
  data
• E.g., Census

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An application (in progress)

• Rates of immunization vary amongst pre-school age
  children in Prince George
• We know that certain households less likely to
  have children immunized
• RQ Is there a strong association between
  neighbourhood composition and non-compliance?

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An application (in progress)

• Households at risk of non-compliance
• Low income
• Single parent
• First Nations
• Recently arrived (immigrants, migrants)
• Conscientious abstainers

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Discussion

• Ideas of how to use GIS to measure contextual and
  collective neighbourhood effects?
• Other issues or concerns?

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Further reading

• Frohlich, K, Corin, E, and Potvin, L, 2001, A
  theoretical proposal for the relationship between
  context and disease. Sociology of Health and
  Illness 23(6) 776-797.
• Macintyre, S, Ellaway, A, and Cummins, S, 2002,
  Place effects on health How can we
  conceptualise, operationalise and measure them?
  Social Science and Medicine 55 125-139.
• Ross, N, Tremblay, S, and Graham, K, 2004,
  Neighbourhood influences in health in Montreal,
  Canada. Social Science and Medicine 59
  1485-1494.
• Schuurman, N, Bell, N, Dunn, J, and Oliver, L,
  2007, Deprivation indices, population health and
  geography An evaluation of the spatial
  effectiveness of indices at multiple scales.
  Journal of Urban Health 84(4) 591-603.