Not just nuisance: spatialising social statistics

This chapter is about treating space seriously within quantitative methods and thinking. It argues that geography is a fundamental characteristic of society, and of the social processes studied in the social sciences. However, the sorts of statistical techniques typically taught to social scientists, and used to inform social policy, either ignore the spatial dimension entirely or regard it as a nuisance. Neither of these acts of geographical short-sightedness is adequate, and both can result in misunderstanding about what is happening, where, and why.