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Deck 9: Surveying the Landscape: Using Geographic Information Systems to Evaluate Community Programs and Facilitate Change
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Deck 9: Surveying the Landscape: Using Geographic Information Systems to Evaluate Community Programs and Facilitate Change
What is geographic information systems (GIS) and how is it currently utilized in evaluation?
Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer-based programs used for cataloguing, storing, querying, analyzing, and displaying geospatial data. At its most basic level, GIS is about making maps, or spatial representations of reality that help us make sense of the physical and social world. We use mental maps to navigate our home and work environments, plan daily activities, and situate events that we learn about from friends, family, and news media. We combine these mental maps with online and mobile phone mapping to tap into almost limitless possibilities for using and sharing geographic information. However, the capabilities of GIS extend beyond merely creating maps to represent the world around us. As will be described and illustrated throughout this chapter, the true power of GIS is in connecting data to geography to provide solutions for solving problems and guiding human behavior.
GIS can be used to examine social environments and community processes, including community health assessments, mapping of community resources, and community development. Despite its potential, GIS remains largely underutilized in community research and evaluation. The underutilization of GIS may be due in part to its reputation as a purely quantitative tool, and also because it has traditionally been in the domain of geographers and has only become more prominent in the social sciences in the last few decades. While researchers tend to utilize GIS software to conduct spatial analyses that rely on quantitative geographical information, this approach is a limited conceptualization of what the technology has to offer in terms of generating new knowledge and influencing social change. Geographic information systems can utilize diverse types of information, such as photographs, narratives, and other types of ethnographic materials. In line with the increasing recognition that multiple methods of inquiry are often necessary to address complex community phenomena, GIS can incorporate both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to accommodate multiple views of the physical and social world.
GIS has also been underutilized due to perceptions that it is too difficult and expensive to be used by people without training or expertise. While this may have been true at one time, the work of such geographers as Sarah Elwood has led to the proliferation of participatory GIS, which encourages individuals and social groups to participate equally in the collection, analysis, and communication of spatial data. GIS technology has also become more user-friendly and capable of capturing and displaying a wider variety of data that is both relevant and important to diverse community stakeholders.
GIS can be used to examine social environments and community processes, including community health assessments, mapping of community resources, and community development. Despite its potential, GIS remains largely underutilized in community research and evaluation. The underutilization of GIS may be due in part to its reputation as a purely quantitative tool, and also because it has traditionally been in the domain of geographers and has only become more prominent in the social sciences in the last few decades. While researchers tend to utilize GIS software to conduct spatial analyses that rely on quantitative geographical information, this approach is a limited conceptualization of what the technology has to offer in terms of generating new knowledge and influencing social change. Geographic information systems can utilize diverse types of information, such as photographs, narratives, and other types of ethnographic materials. In line with the increasing recognition that multiple methods of inquiry are often necessary to address complex community phenomena, GIS can incorporate both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to accommodate multiple views of the physical and social world.
GIS has also been underutilized due to perceptions that it is too difficult and expensive to be used by people without training or expertise. While this may have been true at one time, the work of such geographers as Sarah Elwood has led to the proliferation of participatory GIS, which encourages individuals and social groups to participate equally in the collection, analysis, and communication of spatial data. GIS technology has also become more user-friendly and capable of capturing and displaying a wider variety of data that is both relevant and important to diverse community stakeholders.
Evaluate and discuss the use of GIS to develop visual maps for program evaluation
Using GIS, evaluators can create maps that synthesize and convey information such as population health, sociodemographics, and program services data. This information can in turn help to engage stakeholders, focus or refine the evaluation design, track program changes, and triangulate findings across a variety of data sources to justify conclusions. To create GIS maps for evaluation purposes, evaluators need data sets with spatial (i.e., location) data, such as county codes, zip codes, and street addresses, and attribute data, which represent descriptions, measurements, or classifications of the location data (e.g., county names, population data from the census, and distance between addresses). Evaluators will also need GIS software, such as ESRI ArcGIS (desktop or online versions), Quantum GIS (QGIS), or MapInfo. Collecting location data to be linked to relevant program variables is often the first step to any GIS analysis. This is typically done by converting addresses, zip codes, census blocks, and other locational features to longitude and latitude coordinates. Once location data are geocoded, they can be plotted onto digital maps obtained from GIS software or online databases and analyzed according to their attribute features. In addition to knowing the location of resources in a community, evaluators are also often interested in understanding the sociodemographic composition of neighborhoods or city blocks where programs may be implemented. Linking project data to locational coordinates allows for nearly endless opportunities to access and display information about a project's setting, environment, and performance.
Discuss participatory mapping and explain how it might be used to address evaluation stakeholder diversity.
Community-based participatory research, which has had broad appeal in community psychology, public health, and related disciplines, aims to involve research participants and other stakeholders in the research process and ensure that they have a voice in the knowledge that is created. In geography, the trend toward more inclusive methods of research has led to an increased emphasis in involving local communities and individuals in a process called participatory mapping. This method asks participants to identify the physical boundaries of their own neighborhoods and communities, as well as the important resources and the activities in which they engage.
Some of the earliest work in this area was conducted by Kevin Lynch, an urban planner who was interested in how people organize spatial information about their environments. He asked respondents in three different cities to draw sketch maps showing significant features of their cities and discuss the importance of including these elements on the maps. More recently, participatory mapping has been used to examine community integration among formerly homeless adults, map stakeholder perceptions of environmental problems, and engage community members in HIV prevention research.
In addition to being empowering and engaging, having people draw their own maps, as opposed to relying on census boundaries or pre-drawn maps, allows program evaluators to understand what types of resources and activities are most important to community members' functioning and well-being. Participatory mapping can also be useful in challenging assumptions and testing theories of what people appreciate in their communities and how they contribute to them. Additionally, when individuals are able to define their communities based on their own unique experiences and expertise, their perceptions of belonging to the community, as well as their intrinsic motivation to actively shape change efforts within their communities, are increased.
Some of the earliest work in this area was conducted by Kevin Lynch, an urban planner who was interested in how people organize spatial information about their environments. He asked respondents in three different cities to draw sketch maps showing significant features of their cities and discuss the importance of including these elements on the maps. More recently, participatory mapping has been used to examine community integration among formerly homeless adults, map stakeholder perceptions of environmental problems, and engage community members in HIV prevention research.
In addition to being empowering and engaging, having people draw their own maps, as opposed to relying on census boundaries or pre-drawn maps, allows program evaluators to understand what types of resources and activities are most important to community members' functioning and well-being. Participatory mapping can also be useful in challenging assumptions and testing theories of what people appreciate in their communities and how they contribute to them. Additionally, when individuals are able to define their communities based on their own unique experiences and expertise, their perceptions of belonging to the community, as well as their intrinsic motivation to actively shape change efforts within their communities, are increased.
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