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The quantitative revolution was one of the four major turning points in the history of geography (the other three being regional geography, environmental determinism and critical geography). The quantitative revolution occurred in the 1950s through to the 1960s and marked a rapid change in the method behind geographical research. The main claim for the quantitative revolution is that it led to a shift from a descriptive (ideographic) geography to an empirical law making (nomothetic) geography. Physical map of the Earth (Medium) (Large 2 MB) Geography is the scientific study of the locational and spatial variation in both physical and human phenomena on Earth. ...
Environmental determinism, also known as Climatic determinism, environmentalism, or the geographic factor, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture. ...
Though positivist and post-positivist approaches remain important in geography, critical geography arose as a critique of positivism. ...
A Chinese character. ...
Nomothetic literally means proposition of the law (Greek derivation) and is used in both philosophy (see also Nomothetic and idiographic) and in psychology with differing meanings. ...
(Note: The quantitative revolution also occurred in Psychology, Political science and other social sciences and to a lesser extent in History) Auguste Rodins The Thinker, bronze cast by Alexis Rudier, Laeken Cemetery, Brussels, Belgium. ...
Political science is a social science discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. ...
The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study the human aspects of the world. ...
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: History For other senses of this word, see history (disambiguation). ...
Synopsis and Background Many geography departments in the 1950s had recently separated from geology departments in the flux of postwar (World War II) enrollment. Because geologist of the time looked at geography as a soft and unscientific science, the feeling of many geographers was to persuade everyone that geographers were not second-rate geologist. The changes during the 1950s through 1970s were not the introduction of mathematics into geography, but mathematics as a tool for explicit purposes and for statistical methodology and formal mathematical modeling. A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology, studying the physical structure and processes of the Earth. ...
A geographer is a scientist whose area of study is geography, the study of the physical environment and human habitat. ...
Mathematics is often defined as the study of topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change. ...
Note: The term model is also given a formal meaning in model theory, a part of axiomatic set theory. ...
In the early 1950s there was a growing sense that the existing paradigm for geographical research was not adequate in explaining how physical, economic, social, and political processes are spatially organized, ecologically related, or how outcomes generated by them are evidence for a given time and place. A more abstract, theoretical approach to geographical research has emerged, evolving the analytical method of inquiry. Since the late 1800s, the word paradigm (IPA: ) has referred to a thought pattern in any scientific discipline or other epistemological context. ...
The analytical method of inquiry lead to the development of generalizations that are logically valid about the spatial aspects of a small set of closely defined events embodied in a wide range of natural and cultural settings. Generalizations may take the form of tested hypotheses, models, or theories and the research is judged on its scientific fit and its validity. Adoption of the analytical approach had helped geography become a more law-giving science, and the conception of the discipline as an idiographic field of study has become less acceptable starting in the 1980s.
The 1950s Crisis in Geography During the late 1940s and early ‘50s a series of events nearly led to the downfall of geography as an academic subject. This is known as the 1950s crisis in geography. The crisis occurred for several reasons: - The closing of many geography departments and courses in universities e.g. the abolition of the geography program at Harvard University in 1948
- Continuing division between Human and Physical geography - general talk of Human geography becoming an autonomous subject.
- Geography was seen (fairly or not) as overly descriptive and unscientific- there was, it was claimed, no explanation of why processes or phenomena occurred
- Geography was seen as exclusively educational - there were few if any applications of contemporary geography
- Continuing question of what geography is - Science, Art, Humanity or Social Science?
- After World War II technology became increasingly important in society and as a result nomothetic based sciences gained popularity and prominence
Debate raged predominently (although not exclusively) in the U.S., where regional geography was the major philosophical school (European geography had never been uncomfortable with analytical methods). Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ...
Physical geography or physiogeography is a subfield of geography that focuses on the systematic study of patterns and processes within the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. ...
Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the systematic study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with the environment, with particular reference to the causes and consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity on the Earths surface. ...
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Science For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ...
Winged Victory of Samothrace exihibited in the Louvre. ...
Terms like SOSE (Studies of Society & the Environment) not only refer to social sciences but also studies of the environment. ...
Physical map of the Earth (Medium) (Large 2 MB) Geography is the scientific study of the locational and spatial variation in both physical and human phenomena on Earth. ...
All of these events presented a great threat to geography’s position as an academic subject and thus geographers began seeking new methods to counter critique. Under the (somewhat misleading) banner of the scientific method, the quantitative revolution began. Scientific method as envisaged by one of its early exponents, Sir Isaac Newton, is fundamental to the investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. ...
The Revolution The exact location, founder or date of the quantitative revolution is subject to debate, but it is clear that it began to emerge in the early 1960s as a result of the 1950s crisis and as a response to regional geography paradigm in United States. Under a loosely defined banner of bringing 'scientific thinking' to geography, the quantitative revolution led to an increased use of statistical techniques and in particular multi-variate analysis, enabled by the use of computers in geographical research. The methods adopted were an eclectic bunch of mathematical techniques that were seen as being more precise then the descriptive methods of regional geography. A graph of a bell curve in a normal distribution showing statistics used in educational assessment, comparing various grading methods. ...
Eclecticism is an approach to thought that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions or conclusions, but instead draws upon multiple theories to gain complementary insights into phenomena, or applies only certain theories in particular cases. ...
Some of the techniques that move centre stage in geography were
Yet proponents of quantitative geography tended to present it as bringing science to geography. In fact, the particular contribution of the quantitative revolution was the huge faith placed in multi-variate analysis and in particlur methods derived (or copied from) econometric modelling. It was also very strongly aligned with positive science and this would prove a major source of epistemological debate. Trip distribution (or destination choice or zonal interchange analysis), is the second component (after trip generation, but before mode choice and route assignment) in the traditional 4-step transportation planning (or forecasting) model. ...
Johann Heinrich von Thünen (24 June 1783 - 22 September 1850) ranks alonside Marx as the greatest economist of the nineteeth century (Fernand Braudel). ...
Stochastic, from the Greek stochos or goal, means of, relating to, or characterized by conjecture; conjectural; random. ...
The word probability derives from the Latin probare (to prove, or to test). ...
Econometrics literally means economic measurement. It is the branch of economics that applies statistical methods to the empirical study of economic theories and relationships. ...
In the humanities and social sciences, the term positive is used in a number of ways. ...
Epistemology, from the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. ...
The overwhelming focus on statistical modelling would, eventually, be the undoing of the quantitative revolution. Many geographers became increasingly concerned that these techniques simply put a highly sophisticated technical gloss on an approach to study that was barren of theory. Other critics argued that it removed the 'human dimension' from a discipline that always prided itself on studying the human and natural world alike. As the 1970s dawned, the quantitative revolution came under direct challenge.
Post-revolution Geography The greatest impact of the quantitative revolution was not the revolution itself but the effects that came afterwards in a form of the spread of positivist (post-positivist) thinking and counter-positivist responses.
The rising interest in the study of distance as a critical factor in understanding the spatial arrangement of phenomena during the revolution led to formulation of the first law of geography by Waldo Tobler. The developement of spatial analysis in geography led to more applications in planning process and the further development of theoretical geography offered to geographical research a necessary theoretical background. The first law of geography according to Waldo Tobler is Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other. ...
The greater use of computers in geography also led to many new developments in geomatics such as the creation and application of GIS and remote sensing. These new developments allowed geographers for the first time to assess complex models on a full-scale model and over space and time. The development of geomatics led to geography being reunited as the complexities of the human and natural environments could be assessed on new computable models. Further advances also led to a greater role of spatial statistics and modelling within geography. Eventually the quantitative revolution had its greatest impacts on the fields of physical, economic and urban geography. Geomatics is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering of geographic information. ...
A geographic information system or geographical information system (GIS) is a system for creating and managing spatial data and associated attributes. ...
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Economic geography is the study of the widely varying economic conditions across the earth. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
The counter-positivist response from human geography was created in a form of behavioral, radical and humanist geography (see the article about critical geography). Behavioral geography is an approach to Human Geography that examines human behavior using a disaggregate approach. ...
Though positivist and post-positivist approaches remain important in geography, critical geography arose as a critique of positivism. ...
The quantitative revolution also changed the structure of geography departments in the USA with many physical geographers being merged with geology departments or environmental science departments leaving the geography departments to become solely human geography oriented. Within the UK, there was a different response to the revolution with an increase of specialisation within the subject and ultimately the development of systematic geography with many subfields and branches. Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, the earth) and λογος (logos, word, reason)) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history and the processes that shape it. ...
Environmental science is the study of the interactions among the physical, chemical and biological components of the environment; with a focus on environmental pollution and degradation of the environment related due to human activities; and the impact on biodiversity and sustainability from local and global development. ...
Additional Reading - Science, Philosophy and Physical Geography Robert Inkpen, Routledge, ISBN 0415279542
- Explanation in Geography, David Harvey, E Arnold,ISBN 0713154640
- Key Thinkers on Space and Place, Phil Hubbard, Rob Kitchin, Gill Valentine, Sage Publications Ltd, ISBN 0761949631
- Social Justice and the City, Ira Katznelson (Foreword), David Harvey, Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 0631164766
- The Geographical Tradition: Episodes in the History of a Contested Enterprise, David N. Livingstone, Blackwell Publishers ISBN 0631185860
David Harvey, 1990s David Harvey (b. ...
See also This article explores the history of geography. ...
Quantitative methods are research methods concerned with numbers and anything that is quantifiable. ...
Scientific method as envisaged by one of its early exponents, Sir Isaac Newton, is fundamental to the investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. ...
Positivism can have several meanings. ...
Environmental determinism, also known as Climatic determinism, environmentalism, or the geographic factor, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture. ...
Physical map of the Earth (Medium) (Large 2 MB) Geography is the scientific study of the locational and spatial variation in both physical and human phenomena on Earth. ...
Regional science is a field of geography that emerged in 1950s North America to provide a stronger objective and quantitative base to research on human activities. ...
The first law of geography according to Waldo Tobler is Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other. ...
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