By the terms “data analysis” is meant in statistics a set of multi-dimensional descriptive methods. These methods generally require information organised in the following way: “n” statistic individuals (spatial entities, households, firms…) described by “p” variables. These methods allow summarising information contained in data tables with large dimensions (table n lines x p columns). Two […]
Operation of measure(ment) consists in attributing values to phenomena of interest in the frame of geographical questioning. On the one hand, it is used to characterise attributes of studied objects, and in these cases comes before any processing. On the other hand , it plays a role downstream, to characterise spatial forms, to describe nature […]
Qualitative variables refer to information grasped through modalities. For category variables, these modalities do not have any quantitative meaning and there is no ordering relationship between them. This is the case for example for the gender or the social category at individual level, the political colour of the municipal council at the municipal level, or […]
Taken in its broadest methodological meaning, this term designates any analysis using the statistical tool and presenting a spatial dimension, whether this dimension concerns the tool itself, the object of analysis or variables used as descriptors of this object. Various combinations are indeed possible: – only the object is spatial: the focus is set on […]
A system is a set of sets : set of elements linked with each other through relations which form a set of interactions ; presence of positive and/or negative retro-action loops is an indispensable element of a system definition. Defined in this way, a system forms a totality, whose limits may be defined. Most systems […]
Statistical models are generally used in the frame of a deductive approach. The question concerns variability of a particular phenomenon, and it is attempted to grasp components of this variability. If the statistic individuals are spatial entities, it is the same as wondering about a spatial differentiation. If the statistic individuals are firms, the question […]