In this lab exercise, I conducted an analysis using the geographically weighted regression to determine children’s language skills in relation to different set of variables such as family income, immigration, child care, and family composition, and all the variables will be influenced by the neighbourhoods in which they reside.
In ArcGIS, the geographically weighted regression model is a regression used to model spatial relationships of a given dataset. This regression model is useful in working with large data sets with multiple features, which we are working with multiple enumeration areas as our census data.
Additionally, I compared the statistical results of the geographically weighted regression and the ordinary leas square regression and see how they are reflected in one of my maps. Thus, I was able to make assumptions about why the regression models are better at predicating certain parts of Vancouver while lacking accuracy in other regions. Moreover, I discussed other uses of the GWR model by exploring the relationship between crime rate and lead exposure. The data used in the lab was collected by the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at UBC, using the Early Development Instrument (EDI) questionnaire. Furthermore, census data was used in the grouping analysis, with spatial nits of the census data being in Enumeration Areas (EAs).
Another analysis I had conducted in order to address the regression model’s predicative capability was the grouping analysis shown by (Map 2). 4 Groups were created to address variables I had chosen which were childcare, family of 4, lone parenthood, recent immigrants, and income. From the result shown by (Map 2), I could identify two strong regions to discuss which are Vancouver East side (shaded in yellow), and areas around Kerrisdale (shaded in red). Their characteristics were shown by (Figure 1). Therefore, I could speculate that in the Kerrisdale region which has the highest income and lowest lone parenthood, the combination of these two variables may drastically reduce the importance of having strong language score, thus, reducing the predicative capability of the regression models
Map 1:
This map shows the predicative capability of the OLS and the GWR in explaining the influence of children’s language score on social skills.
Map 2:
This map shows the 4 groups that share similar characteristics of the social variables (recent immigrant, lone parenthood, childcare, family of four, and income).