Spatial social science cluster

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Spatial social science cluster

• Assoc Prof Narimah Samat
• School of Humanities
• Universiti Sains Malaysia

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Contents

• Introduction
• Spatial Social Sciences
• Methods of Spatial Social Sciences
• Transdisciplinary Agenda
• Examples of Research Undertaken

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Introduction

• Studies in Social Sciences and Humanities deal
  with phenomena that are closely related to
  geographical factors.
• Examples include
• The location of health facilities in relation to
  cancer cases in Penang State,
• Changing shape of Sarawaks boundary between 1841
  to 2002
• Accessibility of low-income households to food
  retailers in Penang State
• Land use changes in Langkawi Island from 1970s to
  2008.
• Modeling archeological sites in Perak
• Evaluating settlements pattern in Bujang Valley,
  Kedah
• Traditionally, paper maps had been used to study
  geographical factors. The study by Dr John Snow,
  for example, mapped the distribution of cholera
  outbreak in Soho, England in 1854 , and found the
  association between the contamination of water
  wells in relation to the distribution of the
  cases. In that study, manually drawn map became
  an important tool for analysis.
• The development of Geographic Information Systems
  (GIS) allows more advance analysis of
  geographical factors to be conducted in timely
  and more efficient manner.

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sPatial social sciences

• Spatial Social Science promotes the used of
  spatial techniques, tools and thinking in
  conducting research in Social Sciences and
  Humanities
• Every aspect of human activity occurs on the
  earths surface and can be related to spatial
  concepts, such as location, accessibility,
  distance, proximity and neighborhood. These
  concepts can be utilized to map and analyze the
  spatial pattern and process.
• Spatial representation or maps can also be used
  to communicate various population-based cancer,
  poverty, education, economic or crime statistics.
  These data originally are analyzed in tabular
  forms can now be viewed with spatial dimension
  and analyzed with spatial statistics to find
  association between the incidents and other
  related economic, environmental or social factors.

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Methods of spatial social sciences

1. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
2. Spatial Pattern Analysis
3. Spatial Interaction
4. Cellular Automata and Agent-Based Modeling
5. Map making and visualization

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1. Geographic Information Systems

• GIS is a powerful tool that can be used to
  acquire, manage, manipulate and analyze and
  display spatial and non-spatial data.
• Data such as crime location, land and natural
  resources can be mapped and analyzed to evaluate
  spatial distribution and find association with
  other environmental phenomena.
• Research and applications that involve
  understanding pattern and process on the earths
  surface can significantly be analyzed using GIS.

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2. Spatial pattern analysis

• Social scientists and humanities study various
  problems faced by society that require analysis
  of complex pattern and process related to social,
  economy and environmental phenomena
• Spatial statistics such as spatial clustering are
  used to evaluate particularly high or low
  incidents of crime or disease
• Neighborhood differences can be explained by
  other factors such as poverty, social exclusion,
  education and disorganization

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3. Spatial Interaction

• Spatial interaction models can be used to predict
  the flow of people, goods or services between two
  locations.
• For example, the interaction between shoppers and
  hypermarket can be analyzed using network
  analysis in GIS. Such analysis allows Social
  Scientists and Humanities to understand consumer
  shopping behavior or suitable location of the
  hypermarket.
• Accessibility can also be used to measure the
  equitable and efficient provision of
  opportunities and public services such as
  education and healthcare. For example, the
  accessibility of cancer patients to healthcare
  services can be evaluated using network analysis,
  spatial optimization method and spatial
  interaction model.

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4. Cellular Automata and Agent-Based Modeling

• Cellular automata and agent-based model have been
  used to study complex social and environmental
  systems. The behavior of individual or group at
  local level is imitated to produce pattern at
  regional or global scale.
• For example, cellular automata model and
  agent-based model have been widely used to model
  the spatial pattern of urban growth in relation
  to policy changes.

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5. Map making and visualization

• Map has been used by geographers for many years
  as a tool to explore the distribution and
  communicate the information to various users.
• Maps and visualization techniques can assist in
  reporting and presenting the spatial distribution
  of cancer cases in relation to healthcare
  facilities, distribution of schools, and the
• Thematic mapping of statistical data provides
  useful exploratory data analysis tool for
  knowledge construction.

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Transdisciplinary agenda

• Research/studies/projects involve several
  academic disciplines to create new knowledge and
  theory and solve a common research goal using
  spatial information technology namely GIS, Global
  Positioning System (GPS) and remote sensing
• These spatial technologies become useful tools to
  study various human activities and interaction
• Spatial Social Science Cluster promotes the
  application of spatial information technologies
  and provides a tool to solve the ancient problem
  of combining general scientific knowledge with
  specific information and gives practical value to
  both (Longley et al., 2001).

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Examples of research undertaken

• Narimah Samat, Aziz Abdul Majid, Norizan Md Nor,
  Ruslan Rainis Suriati Ghazali, Application of
  Geographic Information System in Modelling Urban
  Spatial Growth, USM Short-Term Research Grant,
  2004-2006.
• Narimah Samat, Amiza Mat Amin, Morshidi Sirat
  Suriati Ghazali, Urban poverty A Geographical
  Analysis of the relationship between retail food
  access and socio-economic and its policy
  implication, MOSTI E-Science Fund, Oct 2007
  Sept 2009.
• Narimah Samat, Nik Haslinda Nik Hussin, Suriati
  Ghazali Tarmiji Masron, Geographical Analysis
  of Human Settlements in the Ancient City of
  Bujang Valley, Kedah, FRGS Research Grant, Oct
  2006 Sept 2009.
• Tarmiji Masron, Narimah Samat Nazaruddin
  Zainun, The Application of Geographic Information
  System in Mapping Sarawak Boundary Changes 1841
  2002, USM Short-Term Research Grant, 2006 2009.
• Suriati Ghazali, Colonius Atang, Narimah Samat,
  Norizan Md Nor, Azlinda Azman, Intan Hashimah
  Hashim Khariah Salwa Mokhtar, Double Jeopardy -
  Cancer and Poverty A Survey towards Actions,
  Outside Grant (MAKNA), 2006-2009.
• Suriati Ghazali, Narimah Samat Morshidi Sirat,
  Perception of Local People on Ecotourism  A Case
  Study in Sarawak, Malaysia. USM Short-term Grant
  . 2006-2008
• Suriati Ghazali, Narimah Samat, Azilah Mohamad
  Nor, Jabil Mapjabil Prof. Jas Laile Suzana
  Jaafar Diffusion and Geographical Imagination of
  Male Transsexuals in Local Universities in
  Malaysia. FRGS Research Grant. 2006-2009.