QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Where Do Young Adults Live and Why? Combining Quality of Life [QOL] Measures with Geographic Information Systems [GIS] To Understand Our World Patrick H. Buckley Geography Huxley Environmental College Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225 USA patrick@cc.wwu.edu QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
WHERE DO YOUNG PEOPLE LIVE? Talk Outline WHERE DO YOUNG PEOPLE LIVE? DEFINE QOL AND GIS REVIEW RESEARCH METHODS INVESTIGATE YOUNG PEOPLE CONCLUDING REMARKS QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Part 1 DEFINE QOL AND GIS QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults WHAT IS QUALITY OF LIFE Define QOL View Examples QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults QOL Definition QOL: Sense of Satisfaction (Happiness, Pleasure, Well Being…) with the Environment in which a group lives Implies that the Goods and Services and Social Constructs available in an environment create the feeling of statisfaction The lack of these and/or the existence of Bads indicates a lower quality of life then desired QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults QOL High High quality of life includes Access to Goods, Services and Participation: Food, Clothing, Housing Education Opportunities for Social Participation Political Empowerment Social and Economic Equality Security QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults QOL Low Low Quality of Life implies Shortages of Goods, Inadequate Services, and Alienation: Hungry, Cold, Wet Uneducated Discrimination and Inequality Powerless and Underemployed Fear, Anger, Despair QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
Focus of Studies Today Include Private Sector Marketing Real Estate Internet Resource Management Public Sector Education Facility Management Policy and Planning Environment Other Best Places, Schools, Locations Aging Population Children Political Parties QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
Geographically QOL Studies are preformed at various scales Globally: Country Continent Environmental region Nationally: Prefecture State County Locally: Neighborhood Ward Block QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults QOL Examples From WWW ASIAWEEK.com: Asia’s Best Cities 2000 http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/features/asiacities2000/ Children’s Rights Council: Best US State to Raise a Child http://www.vix.com/crc/bestStates98.html#ranking Save the Children: Mother’s Index and Country Rating http://www.savethechildren.org/worldsmothers00/tablepage.shtml QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Summary QOL Index measures SATISFACTION QOL can look at many questions, groups, and places QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
WHAT IS GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM Define GIS View Example QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
Define Geographic Information System [GIS] A Geographic Analytical Tool that: 1. Builds a Spatial Database 2. Investigates and Analyzes a problem 3. Provides Results as Maps, Tables, Graphs, and Reports QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Geographic Information linked to location where things are located is important Problems linked to place cities, towns, countries, prefectures, neighborhoods… QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Information Data collected from people, governments, companies, organizations… Data analyzed to understand and answer questions using: statistical analysis map analysis models QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults System Starts with a problem Ends with a solution QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Example of a GIS QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Part 2 RESEARCH METHOD QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Studying our world How we do this Why this is useful Why study Young People Using QOL Measures QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults How to study our world Step 1: Describe Step 2: Predict Step 3: Prescribe QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Why is this useful? Describe: Understand what is Describe the current world Look for patterns, relationships, correlation Predict: Guess at what we can’t see Predict the future Predict other places QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
Why is this useful?continued Prescribe: Suggest how to change the world Prescribe steps to take Make the world better Final Result We are more satisfied QOL increases QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Why study Young People Young People (18 to 29 years old) are the FUTURE Young People are Free to seek High QOL By Understanding the Young we can predict our future By Understanding the Young we can change our future --Make it Better QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Using QOL Measures 1. Describes Satisfied/Unsatisfied parts of World 2. Helps Predict Future Satisfaction/ Dissatisfaction Where and When 3. Helps Prescribe how to make the World more Satisfied QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Step 1: Describe What Is Set an Objective Choose a Place and Group to Study Understand what is there Ask Questions -- New Data Gather Existing Information -- Old Data Organize and Summarize the data Present the results as Tables, Maps, Charts... QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
An Example of Describing QOL Objective: Understand QOL of Student Housing Choose: Students at Meiji University Understand -- Fill-out a Questionnaire Organize and Summarize the data Present the results as Tables, Maps, Graphs... QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
PAUSE FOR HANDS-ON WORK
Step 2: Predict --What will be Analyze Descriptions and Make Predictions (Ideas or Models about the world) Test your Predictions (Ideas) Use statistics, maps, other tools... Do your Ideas work? YES - go to Step 3: Prescribe NO - go back to Step 1: Describe QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
An Example of Prediction Analyze a GIS DESCRIPTION of young people in the USA Make a Hypothesis of the reason Test the Hypothesis (Ideas) Do your Ideas work? YES, then step completed NO, look at the description again QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
Step 3: Prescribe --What can be Learn from the Prediction Model What QOL variables cause change Adjust those QOL variables and create a new prediction Continue to adjust the QOL variables until the future outcome is the desired outcome Apply the suggested changes to world QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
INVESTIGATE WHERE YOUNG PEOPLE LIVE IN USA Part 3 INVESTIGATE WHERE YOUNG PEOPLE LIVE IN USA QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
INVESTIGATE YOUNG PEOPLE IN USA State Level Investigation County Level Conversion to Points Predict a Relationship Conclusions QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
State Level Investigation Calculate the % of Young People in an State # Young People/ Total Population * 100 17 Young/ 100 People * 100 = 17% QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
State Level Investigation continued Divide the results into 5 quantiles (equal size groups) with increasing Percentage of Young People 50 state/ 5 groups = 10 states/group Map results and investigate QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
County Level Investigation Repeat work at County Level: Calculate the % of Young People in a County # Young People/ Total Population * 100 17 Young/ 100 People * 100 = 17% QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
County Level Investigation continued Divide the results into 5 quantiles (equal size groups) with increasing Percentage of Young People 3,138 counties/ 5 groups = 627 (approx.) counties/group Map results and investigate QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Conversion to Points Represent Counties as Points instead of Areas (Easier to Read) Map and Investigate QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
Predict a Relationship Hypothesis (My Idea): Young People like to live near large cities QOL is higher more jobs more entertainment more exciting QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
Predict a Relationship continued Test Hypothesis (My Idea): Map out 40 largest cities and find percentage of Young People living near each use 30 mile radius for search area intersect percent young with search area map and graph results QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Conclusions Young People prefer to live near Big Cities Fewer Young People live in the countryside Next Research Question: How can we keep young people in the countryside??? Improve QOL in countryside??? QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults Part 4 CONCLUDING REMARKS QOL-- Where are the Young Adults
QOL-- Where are the Young Adults CONCLUDING REMARKS QOL studies help us to understand our world GIS is an excellent way of understanding patterns of QOL across places More work needs to be done to: understand our Young People improve our world and create a better future QOL-- Where are the Young Adults