Qualitative GIS and the Visualization of Narrative Activity Space Data.
Int J Geogr Inf Sci
; 27(2): 267-291, 2013.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26190932
ABSTRACT
Qualitative activity space data, i.e. qualitative data associated with the routine locations and activities of individuals, are recognized as increasingly useful by researchers in the social and health sciences for investigating the influence of environment on human behavior. However, there has been little research on techniques for exploring qualitative activity space data. This research illustrates the theoretical principles of combining qualitative and quantitative data and methodologies within the context of GIS, using visualization as the means of inquiry. Through the use of a prototype implementation of a visualization system for qualitative activity space data, and its application in a case study of urban youth, we show how these theoretical methodological principles are realized in applied research. The visualization system uses a variety of visual variables to simultaneously depict multiple qualitative and quantitative attributes of individuals' activity spaces. The visualization is applied to explore the activity spaces of a sample of urban youth participating in a study on the geographic and social contexts of adolescent substance use. Examples demonstrate how the visualization may be used to explore individual activity spaces to generate hypotheses, investigate statistical outliers, and explore activity space patterns among subject subgroups.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Qualitative_research
Language:
En
Journal:
Int J Geogr Inf Sci
Year:
2013
Document type:
Article