Syllabus 
  1. Use of Data in Geography: Geographical Data Matrix, 
   Significance of Statistical Methods in Geography; 
   Sources of Data, Scales of Measurement (Nominal, 
   Ordinal,  Interval, Ratio).
  2. Tabulation and Descriptive Statistics: Frequencies - 
   Deciles, Quartiles, Percentile, Cross Tabulation.
  3. Measurement of Central Tendencies: Mean, Median 
   and Mode, Centro-graphic Techniques.
  4. Measures of Dispersion: Standard Deviation, Variance 
   and Coefficient of Variation.
  5. Sampling: Purposive, Random, Systematic and 
   Stratified.
         Introduction
  • Statistics  is  a  branch  of  science  that 
  deals with the 
  • collection, 
  • organisation, 
  • analysis of data and
  •  drawing of inferences from the samples 
  to the whole population. 
  • This  requires  a  proper  design  of  the 
  study,  an  appropriate  selection  of  the 
  study  sample and choice of a suitable 
  statistical test. 
                           Geographical Data 
   • Geographical  or  spatial  data  are  defined  as 
     undigested,     unorganized,      and    unevaluated 
     material that can be associated with a location.
   •   Geographical  data  include  facts,  results  of 
     observations,  original  remote  sensing  images, 
     basic census figures and statistics all of which are 
     gathered and communicated to the user. 
   • Data are of little value in or of themselves. To be 
     useful    they    must     be     transformed      into 
     information. 
  •
  When data are organized, presented, analyzed, 
  interpreted and considered useful for a particular 
  decision problem, they become information. 
  •
  Accordingly, geographical information is defined 
  as georeferenced data that have been processed 
  into  a  form  that  is  meaningful  and  of  real  or 
  perceived value to decision makers.
              Geographical Data Matrix (GDM) 
 • Geographic  data posses two distinct components- Location 
  and attributes at locations, and the geographical data matrix 
  is perhaps the most logical way to represent the real world. It 
  is a major milestone in the development of data organization 
  methods in scientific geographical studies. 
 • In the GDM, a column represents the variation of attributes 
  of the natural or socio-economic characteristic across some 
  geographical spaces.