Lecture 6 The Quantitative Revolution in

Geography
Objectives
Describe the quantitative revolution
Identify Key proponents and Institutions
Factors which informed the revolution
Consequences of the Revolution
Critiques of the Revolution
The quantitative revolution was one of the four major
turningpoints of modern geography the other three being
environmental determinism! regional geography and critical
geography"#
It has been described as $the radical transformation of
spirit and purpose% &'urton! ()*+! p#(,(" which -nglo
-merican geography underwent in the (),.s and ()*.s
following the widespread adoption of both inferential
statistical techniques and abstract models and theories#
Consequently! the old idiographic &description" geography!
with its focus on areal di/erentiation and regional geography
gave way for a new nomothetic &e0planation 1 law
giving"discipline! 2patial 2cience#
The new spatial science argued that there e0isted spatial
laws or rules! which geographers ought to discover# These are
at the root of all human e0istence# 2patial science is concerned
with formulating predictive laws of spatial behaviour# In
3illiam 'unge%s theoretical geography in 1962 he contends
that the basic approach to geography is to assume that
geography is a strict science and then to proceed to e0amine
the substantive results of such an assumption# 4e further
argued that the earth is not randomly arranged# 5ocations of
cities! rivers! mountains! political units! are not scattered
around helters6elter in whimsical disarray# There e0ists a
great spatial order! of sense! on our maps and globes#
This period sees geography emerging as a science of
locations! see6ing to predict locations where before there was
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contentment with simply describing# The quest for laws and
theories was a logical outcome of the continued search for
scienti7c e0planation of spatial relations of phenomena# From
quanti7cation grew the increased concern for respectability
via the application of the scienti7c method! leading to
geography as a spatial science concerned with modeling and
predicting human spatial behaviour#
The quantitative revolution represented a paradigm
change in the discipline of geography which displaced
traditional hierarchy within the discipline#
'efore the (),.s! human geography was essentially
atheoretical# 3ith the 8uantitative Revolution! however! a
9ood of theoretical models from other disciplines were
imported and applied# There were several sources: from
physics came the ;ravity <odel= from economics came the >on
Thunen%s model! 3eber%s location triangle and 5osch%s and
Christaller%s Central ?lace theories respectively= from
sociology came the @rban Factorial Acology and the Ran62iBe
Rule= from geometry came the Cetwor6s and ;raph theory
which have been inculcated into Transportation geography!
and the list goes on# The greatest application of quantitative
methods has been concentrated in sub7elds of geography! for
e0ample in Aconomic geography= @rban geography= ?hysical
geography# 'ut even cultural and political geography now use
some forms of statistical analysis# The application of
quantitative and scienti7c methods is increasing in all
sub7elds today! largely due to the advances and availability of
geographic inforation systes#
4uman geography moved from a 7eldbased! craftform of
inquiry to a technical! des6bound one where places were
analysed from afar#
-s in all revolutions! new slogans were coined e#g# $by our
models! you shall 6now us &4arvey! ()*)"%= new journals were
established! e#g# ;eographical -nalysis in ()*)= $right% people
were hired &for instance! Adward Taafe was appointed as chair
or head of the Department of ;eography at Dhio state
@niversity in the ()*.s"= funds were secured to carry out
research from the Cational 2cience Foundation and the @2
o/ice of Caval Research#
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3hen the 8uantitative Revolution began! it was as a
series of local a/airs crystallised around one or two individuals
or departments# In -merica! the Department of ;eography at
the @niversity of 3ashington! 2eattle was pivotal as was the
@niversity of Iowa in Iowa City# -t 3ashington! the presence of
Adward @llman and 3illiam ;arrison! was 6ey#
In (),E! ;arrison gave the 7rst advanced course in
statistical methodology# -t Iowa! the wor6s of 4arold <cCarty
was central# Dutside of the @2! the @niversity of Toronto
became important in the midtolate ()*.s! while ?eter
4aggett and Richard Chorley in the @K and Torsten
4agerstrand in 2weden were crucial in establishing the
Auropean frontier# Through their <adingly 4all lecture series
and copious publications! 4aggett and Chorley greatly
in9uenced geography teachers in the @K#
Ian 'urton! 3illam 'unge! ?eter 4aggett and Richard
Chorley are considered the fathers of quantitative geography#
!ccounting for the "ove to Quanti#cation in Geography
?roponents were quite critical of the prevailing paradigm#
Dne of such 7rebrands was ;ould &()F)! p#(E."! who noted for
instance that the new generation of geographers were sic6 and
ashamed of $the bumbling amateurism and antiquarianism that
had spent nearly half a century of opportunity in the
universities piling up a tipheap of unstructured factual
accounts%#
-nother author called Richard <orrill &()GE!p#*E" wrote
that the young generation%s vision! although it might seem
radical to those satis7ed with an inferior status for the
discipline! was in fact conservative in the sense that $we
wanted to save geography as a 7eld of study and join the
mainstream of science%
For much of its history! geography has been characteriBed by
much physical! cultural! and economic descriptive analysis!
developing what we now call regional geography# Though
geography as a discipline 9ourished as regional geography and
grew in popularity! this approach to geography had a number
of problems:
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First! it was overly $escriptive% Regional geographies
literally followed a set format for the inventory of physical and
cultural features at a given site#
2econdly! it was almost purely e$ucational& Regions
donHt really e0ist= they are just convenient! but logical devices
for partitioning the earthHs surface# The regional concept
combined with the description of regional studies made
regional geography a terri7c educational tool! but rendered it
of little use in practical applications#
Thirdly! it faile$ to e'plain geographic patterns#
'ecause regional geography was so descriptive and simplistic!
it really did not help geographers understand (hy patterns
were the way they were# In other words! it provided virtually
no e'planation. 3here attempts at e0planation did e0ist! they
favoured a temporal or historical approach that sought to
identify origins& Aven this! however! was not e0planation! as it
did not always e0plain (hy things happened as they did#
The fourth! and probably the biggest problem of regional
geography was the fact that it was unscienti#c% The
quantitative revolution introduced the notion that geography
could be a theorybased enterprise# This is because it is
believed that the establishment of mathematical models may
be regarded as the highest form of scienti7c achievement
because the models are precise statements of fundamental
truths# The revolutionaries sought to rethin6 geography as a
discipline centred on theories of spatial organiBation that
transcended the particular# It was a response to the criticisms
of geography as primarily descriptive &e#g# as in the regional
tradition" and unscienti7c#
-gain during the late ()E.s and early (),.s! a major crisis
occurred in the discipline# 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 4arvard @niversity in ()EG
Continuing division between 4uman and ?hysical
geography general tal6 of 4uman geography becoming
an autonomous subject#
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Continuing question of what geography is 2cience! -rt!
4umanity or 2ocial 2cienceI
-fter 3orld 3ar II technology became increasingly
important in society and as a result nomothetic based
sciences gained popularity and prominence# -ir photos
had become more and more popular since the 7rst use in
3orld 3ar I# In post 33II! however! the use of radar
scans and infrared photographs from planes have added
to geographersH abilities to interpret the earthHs surface#
-lso since ()*.! there has been an everincreasing use of
satellite images from beyond the earthHs atmosphere#
These images have improved in clarity! resolution! and
precision over the years
The Role or )onsequences of the Revolution in the
*iscipline of Geography
The greatest impact of the quantitative revolution was not the
revolution itself but the e/ects that came afterwards in a form
of the spread of positivist &postpositivist" thin6ing and
counterpositivist 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 7rst law of
geography by 3aldo Tobler# The development of spatial
analysis in geography led to more applications in planning
process and the further development of theoretical geography
o/ered to geographical research a necessary theoretical
bac6ground# The revolution was inspired by a genuine need to
ma6e geography more scienti7c! and by a concern to develop a
body of theory# The $evelopent of a theoretical o$el+
buil$ing geography (as the ajor consequence of the
quantitative revolution&
4owever! the need to develop theory precedes the
quantitative revolution# 'ut quanti7cation adds point to the
need and o/ers a technique whereby theory may be developed
and improved# It is now clear to geographers that
quanti7cation is ine0tricably lin6ed with theory# The core of
the scienti7c method is the organisation of facts into theories
and the testing and re7nement of theory by its application to
the prediction of un6nown facts# ;iven the need to comply
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with the rigorous dictates of the scienti7c method! the need to
develop theory and to test theory with prediction! then
mathematics is the best tool available to us for the purpose#
The quanti7cation of theory and use of mathematics to e0press
relationships are justi7ed on the grounds that they are more
rigorous and eliminates selfdeception#
The greater use of computers in geography also led to
many new developments in geomatics such as the creation and
application of ;I2 and remote sensing# These new
developments allowed geographers for the 7rst time to assess
comple0 models on a fullscale model and over space and time#
The development of geomatics led to geography being reunited
as the comple0ities 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# Aventually the quantitative
revolution had its greatest impacts on the 7elds of physical!
economic and urban geography#
The main claim for the quantitative revolution is that it
led to a shift from a descriptive &ideographic" geography to an
empirical law ma6ing &nomothetic" geography#
For proponents! spatial statistical analysis was the
hallmar6 of scienti7c geographic practice! because it provided
tools to test hypotheses against just the facts# 8uantitative
approaches in general! and spatialstatistical analysis in
particular! continually have been cited by their proponents as
both ma6ing the practice of geography more rigorous &in a
positivist sense"! and as enhancing the respectability of
geography among the other sciences#
The ()*.s and ()F.s were optimistic decades for
geographical innovators# 2tudent numbers grew rapidly and
career opportunities e0panded considerably &4oltJensen!
()))"
! )ritique of the Quantitative Revolution
The quantitative revolution came to an end at the end of the
()F.s argues 'urton# -n intellectual revolution is over when
the revolutionary ideas themselves become a part of the
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conventional wisdom! and when accepted ideas have been
thrown overboard or modi7ed to include new ideas# -s the
()F.s dawned! the quantitative revolution came under direct
challenge#
The mood changed by the late ()*.s! with a signi7cant
number of geographers beginning to question the wisdom and
even the morality of this quantitative turn#
4owever! some see the paradigm shift not as
revolutionary but evolutionary &Chisholm! ()F," due to the
fact that geography has been quantitative since its formal
institutionaliBation as a discipline in the ()
th
century# -s such!
the widespread use of statistical techniques represented an
evolution rather than a revolution# Dthers also see it as just
theoretical revolution as more theories! and not numbers or
statistics were propounded#
-s a discipline that is both descriptive and practical! it is
not surprising that geographers have a long history with using
numbers# In 'ritain! the Royal ;eographical 2ociety founded
in (G+. was a classic $center of calculation% &5atour! ()GF"
which made e0tensive use of maps! tables and 7gures# In the
same vein! in the @2 between (G,K and (GF(! the -merican
;eographical and 2tatistical societies were formally
intertwined#
Great $ebates (ere happening aroun$ issues of
poverty, civil rights, the environent, gen$er an$ racial
equality an$ (ar but the quantitative revolution sees
unable or un(illing to a$$ress the &Johnston et al! K..."
-c6erman! one of the proponents of quanti7cation! noted that
$the danger of dead end and nonsense are not removed by
$hardware% and symbolic logic% &()*+! p#E+K"
The quantitative revolution (as accuse$ of ta-ing
us bac- uch closer to environental $eterinis# It is
surely not coincidental that the quantitative revolution is
contemporaneous with the appearance of neodeterminism in
geography# The strong reaction to environmental determinism
has served to delay the coming of the quantitative movement
to geography and postponed the establishment of a scienti7c
basis for our discipline! which the determinist sought but did
not 7nd#
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-ccording to 4oover <ac6in as measurements increase
in comple0ity and re7nement! and as mathematical
manipulation of the data become more sophisticated! these
measurements and manipulations may become so impressive
in form that the investigator tends to lose sight of their
meaning and purpose# 3hen mechanical processes replace
reasoning processes! and when a number replaces
understanding as the objective! danger enters#
The overwhelming focus on statistical modelling would!
eventually! be the undoing of the quantitative revolution# <any
geographers became increasingly concerned that these
techniques simply put a highly sophisticated technical gloss on
an approach to study that was barren of theory# Dther critics
argued that it removed the huan $iension from a
discipline that always prided itself on studying the human and
natural world ali6e#
Representations of quantitative geography! both by
practitioners and by others! have tended to associate
quanti7cation with epiricis &underestimation of the
comple0 relationship between theory and observation and in
particular the di/iculty in separating the e/ects of
phenomena that are interrelated"! positivis! &careful and
objective collection of data regarding to social phenomenon so
as to determine laws to predict and e0plain human behaviour
in terms of cause and e/ect" and the social and academic
status quo#
Three major counterpositivist or counter revolutionary
school of thought emerged# .ehavioural geography sought
to counter the perceived tendency of quantitative geography to
deal with humanity as a statistical phenomenon# It 9ourished
brie9y during the ()F.s and sought to provide a greater
understanding of how people perceived places and made
locational decisions and sought to challenge mathematical
models of society! in particular the use of econometric
techniques# 'ehavioral geographers focus on the cognitive
processes underlying spatial reasoning! decision ma6ing! and
behavior# In addition! 'ehavioral geography is that branch of
human science! which deals with the study of cognitive
processes with its response to its environment! through
behaviorism# The approach adopted in behavioral geography is
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closely related to that of psychology! but draws on research
7ndings from a multitude of other disciplines including
economics! sociology! anthropology! transportation planning!
and many others#
'ut the lac6 of a sound theoretical base left behavioural
geography open to critique as merely descriptive and
amounting to little more than a listing of spatial preferences#
Ra$ical geography emerged during the ()F.s and
()G.s as the inadequacies of behavioralist methods became
clear# It sought to counter the postivist quantitative methods
with normative techniques drawn from <ar0ist theory#
8uantitative methods! it argued! were not useful unless
alternatives or solutions were given to problems#
The 7nal and! arguably! most successful of the three
schools was huanistic geography! initially formed part of
behavioural geography but fundamentally disagreed with the
use of quantitative methods in assessing human behaviour and
thoughts# 4umanistic geography used many of the techniques
that the humanities use such as source analysis and the use of
te0t and literature to try and get into the in$ of the
subject&s"# Furthermore! cultural geography revived due to
humanistic geography# Cew areas of study such as feminist!
postmodernist and poststructuralist geography began to
emerge#
2patial science and the quantitative revolution have been both
a blessing and a curse to geography ma6ing it more scienti7c
and at the same time introducing the philosophy of positivism
with its various evils in geography#
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