QOL-- Where are the Young Adults1 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 USA

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults2 Talk Outline WHERE DO YOUNG PEOPLE LIVE? DD EFINE QOL AND GIS RR EVIEW RESEARCH METHODS II NVESTIGATE YOUNG PEOPLE CC ONCLUDING REMARKS

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults3 Part 1 DEFINE QOL AND GIS

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults4 WHAT IS QUALITY OF LIFE Define QOL View Examples

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults5 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 Adults6 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 Adults7 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 Adults8 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 Adults9 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 Adults10 QOL Examples From WWW ASIAWEEK.com: Asia’s Best Cities Children’s Rights Council: Best US State to Raise a Child Save the Children: Mother’s Index and Country Rating

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QOL-- Where are the Young Adults15 Summary QOL Index measures SATISFACTION QOL can look at many questions, groups, and places

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults16 WHAT IS GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM Define GIS View Example

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults17 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 Adults18 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 Adults19 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 Adults20 System Starts with a problem Ends with a solution

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults21 Example of a GIS

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults22 Part 2 RESEARCH METHOD

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults23 Studying our world How we do this Why this is useful Why study Young People Using QOL Measures

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults24 How to study our world Step 1: Describe Step 2: Predict Step 3: Prescribe

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults25 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 Adults26 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 Adults27 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 Adults28 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 Adults29 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...

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QOL-- Where are the Young Adults32 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...

PAUSE FOR HANDS-ON WORK

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults34 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 Adults35 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 Adults36 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 Adults37 Part 3 INVESTIGATE WHERE YOUNG PEOPLE LIVE IN USA

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults38 INVESTIGATE YOUNG PEOPLE IN USA State Level Investigation County Level Conversion to Points Predict a Relationship Conclusions

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults39 State Level Investigation Calculate the % of Young People in an State # Young People/ Total Population * Young/ 100 People * 100 = 17%

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults40 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

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QOL-- Where are the Young Adults43 County Level Investigation Repeat work at County Level: Calculate the % of Young People in a County # Young People/ Total Population * Young/ 100 People * 100 = 17%

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults44 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

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QOL-- Where are the Young Adults47 Conversion to Points Represent Counties as Points instead of Areas (Easier to Read) Map and Investigate

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QOL-- Where are the Young Adults49 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 Adults50 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

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QOL-- Where are the Young Adults53 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 Adults54 Part 4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

QOL-- Where are the Young Adults55 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