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
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Talk Outline
WHERE DO YOUNG PEOPLE
LIVE?




DEFINE QOL AND GIS
REVIEW RESEARCH METHODS
INVESTIGATE YOUNG PEOPLE
CONCLUDING REMARKS
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Part 1
• DEFINE QOL AND GIS
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WHAT IS QUALITY OF LIFE
• Define QOL
• View Examples
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Geographically QOL Studies are
preformed at various scales
Globally:
• Country
• Continent
• Environmental region
Nationally:
• Prefecture
• State
• County
Locally:
• Neighborhood
• Ward
• Block
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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
• Save the Children: Mother’s Index and
Country Rating
http://www.vix.com/crc/bestStates98.html#ranking
http://www.savethechildren.org/worldsmothers00/tablepage.shtml
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Summary
• QOL Index measures SATISFACTION
• QOL can look at many questions, groups,
and places
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WHAT IS GEOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION SYSTEM
• Define GIS
• View Example
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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
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Geographic
• Information linked to location
– where things are located is important
• Problems linked to place
– cities, towns, countries, prefectures,
neighborhoods…
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Information
• Data collected from people, governments,
companies, organizations…
• Data analyzed to understand and answer
questions using:
– statistical analysis
– map analysis
– models
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System
• Starts with a problem
• Ends with a solution
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Example of a GIS
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Part 2
RESEARCH METHOD
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Studying our world
•
•
•
•
How we do this
Why this is useful
Why study Young People
Using QOL Measures
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How to study our world
Step 1: Describe
Step 2: Predict
Step 3: Prescribe
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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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...
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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
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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
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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
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Part 3
INVESTIGATE WHERE YOUNG
PEOPLE LIVE IN USA
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INVESTIGATE YOUNG
PEOPLE IN USA
•
•
•
•
•
State Level Investigation
County Level
Conversion to Points
Predict a Relationship
Conclusions
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State Level Investigation
Calculate the % of Young People in an State
# Young People/ Total Population * 100
17 Young/ 100 People * 100 = 17%
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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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Young People In Five Quantile Groups as Increasing
Proportion of the Total Population Based on States
15
10
10
10
10
10
12.6 -- 15.8% -- Lowest %
Young People
16.3 -- 17.1%
17.2 -- 17.7% -- Average %
Young People
17.8 -- 18.4%
18.5 -- 28.3% -- Highest %
Young People
Count of Counties
10
5
0
Percent of Young People (18-29years old) in a County's Population
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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%
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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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Young People In Five Quantile Groups as Increasing
Proportion of the Total Population Based on Counties
700
627
629
624
627
631
4.9 -- 12.5% -- Lowest %
Young People
12.6 -- 14.3%
14.4 -- 15.7% -- Average
% Young People
15.8 -- 17.3%
17.4 -- 54.1% -- Highest %
Young People
600
Count of Counties
500
400
300
200
100
0
Percent of Young People (18-29years old) in a County's Population
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Conversion to Points
• Represent Counties as Points instead of
Areas (Easier to Read)
• Map and Investigate
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Predict a Relationship
• Hypothesis (My Idea): Young People like
to live near large cities
– QOL is higher
– more jobs
– more entertainment
– more exciting
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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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Percentage of Young People in the 133 Counties in
and surrounding the 40 Largest Cities in the U.S.A.
70
66
60
Count of Counties
50
40
30
23
20
20
12
12
10
0
4.9 -- 12.5% -- Lowest %
Young People
12.6 -- 14.3%
14.4 -- 15.7% -- Average %
Young People
15.8 -- 17.3%
17.4 -- 54.1% -- Highest %
Young People
Percent of Young People (18-29years old) in a County's Population
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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???
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Part 4
CONCLUDING REMARKS
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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
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