QOL-- Where are the Young Adults 1

Where Do Young Adults Live and Why? Combining Quality of Life [QOL] Measures with

Geographic Information Systems [GIS] To Understand Our World

Patrick H. BuckleyGeographyHuxley Environmental CollegeWestern Washington UniversityBellingham, WA 98225 USApatrick@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 includesAccess 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 impliesShortages 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 http://www.vix.com/crc/bestStates98.html#ranking

• Save the Children: Mother’s Index and Country Rating 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...

PAUSE FOR HANDS-ON WORK

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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 3INVESTIGATE 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

10 10 10 10 10

0

5

10

15

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

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

627 629 624 627 631

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

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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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.

12

20

12

23

66

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

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