Regional Data

Abstract

Spatiality is an increasingly important dimension in the social sciences, as a new wave of recent publications shows. Intra-national comparisons have proved to be as fruitful as the better known inter-national analysis. Regional characteristics are found to have considerable influence on individual behaviour. This movement was fostered by methodological advances, e.g. in multi-level techniques. On the data side spatial analysis is supported by a good basic infrastructure in official and semiofficial information, often provided in the way of easily usable DVDs. In addition, both scientific researchers and commercial marketing firms collect valuable information, partly on a very detailed local level of only a handful of households.However, there is ample room for improvement. Huge existing datasets (e.g. PISA E) are not open for spatial oriented scientific purposes; in many cases regional information is not sufficiently available (e.g. on criminal behaviour); systematic over-sampling in sparsely inhabited areas to allow additional regional analysis is not very common. [author's abstract]