Читать книгу GIS Research Methods - Steven J. Steinberg - Страница 72

The following are questions you should ask about your geographic location. These questions may appear basic, but they will help you gather information that is useful for integrating a GIS into your project. It is important to answer these questions before data collection so that you can arrange the categories and measurement devices for your project. Furthermore, thinking about the answers to these questions will help you identify important characteristics of your study location and will further assist you in the data collection process because you will have already established those aspects of your location that are important and determined which types of data variables you require. These issues are discussed in detail in later chapters. When evaluating the geographic aspects of your study, valuable considerations might include the following:

Where does your research occur geographically?

How would you describe the physical aspects of your study site or research area (i.e., what are the geographic boundaries of the study)?

Which urban areas or cities are close to your study site? Are these relevant variables?

Are there emotionally, spiritually, environmentally, physically, or culturally important units of analysis (neighborhoods, counties, valleys, mountains)?

What are the different geographic locations associated with your independent variables?

Do any unique, natural geographic features exist in your study site?

Do any unique, manufactured geographic features or facilities exist within your study site?

Do any geographic features of the area hold special meaning for the people who live there?

Are there boundaries associated with your data? How are these defined?

Are the data stationary through the timeframe of your analysis, or do they move? How will you account for these changes?