Geography 226: Introduction

What are Statistics?
(or, why am I taking this course?)

Introduction from Mark Flaherty

Though you may not have realized it at the time, my hunch is that all of you have made some statistical statements in your everyday conversation, or have encountered statistical statements while reading your morning newspaper, watching TV, or participating in sports pools or lotteries. Statements like:

The Canucks are probably going to win the Stanley Cup this year,
If you use Ultra Shine toothpaste, you will have significantly fewer cavities,
The odds of passing Geography 226 without studying are very low,

are all statistical in nature. My second hunch is that many of you do not have a full appreciation of what is implied by the terms highlighted above. For example, what exactly does significantly fewer cavities mean?

Today, statistics are important tools in the work of many academic disciplines, as well as in many other aspects of society, business, industry and government. Owing to the growing use of statistics in so many areas of our lives, there is a concomitant recognition of the importance of understanding statistical thinking, even if you do not use statistical methods directly. To borrow the words of the famous author who wrote "The Invisible Man" and "War of the Worlds":

Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read or write. - H.G. Wells

Geography has a well deserved reputation for being a rather eclectic discipline. The Department of Geography at UVic includes faculty with interests in historical geography, medical geography, urban geography, cultural geography, resource geography, physical geography, and geomatics. While the research interests of the geographers in the Department are highly varied, one common theme underlying many of their research programs is the use of statistics. The purpose of this course is to provide you with the background and skills needed to understand the arguments based on data analysis that you will encounter during your undergraduate program in geography.

My final hunch is that by the end of this course, you will be able to read much more widely in the geographic and scientific literatures than you can now, and that you will have acquired a good foundation for doing empirical research of your own design.

I am well aware that many students view the prospect of taking a statistics course with the same level of enthusiasm as of going to the dentist. I also know from my own experience that statistics courses can be somewhat dry and boring. I cannot guarantee that you will find all parts of this course interesting. However, I have tried to illustrate the application of statistics in a variety of research contexts, many of which are drawn from my own research program.

Historical Perspective

The so-called "information society" and the "computer age" are of relatively recent origins. Statistical analysis, however, has a long history. Statisticians are a diverse group, and count among their ranks Florence Nightingale and several other famous faces, including the first person to "debug" a computer (Grace Hopper).