THE MWALIMU NYERERE MEMORIAL ACADEMY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION
SEMESTER-TWO: 2023/2024 ACADEMIC YEAR
BACHELOR DEGREE OF EDUCATION IN GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
MODULE CODE EDU 07444: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH TECHNIQUES IN
GEOGRAPHY
NATURE OF WORK GROUP ASSIGNMENT
SUBMISSION DATE The assignment should be submitted on 23rd April 2024
during lecture hours.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR Dr. Sifuni N. Lusiru
S/N STUDENT NAME REGISTRATION NUMBER SIGNATURE
01 MZAVA OLIVER ELIDAIMA MNMA/BD.EGH/4898/22
02 MZELELA HAWA, H. MNMA/BD.EGH/4985/22
03 BURA ISAYA, M. MNMA/BD.EGH/5108/22
04 IBRAHIM MWALUSEKE MNMA/BD.EGH/5159/22
05 FUNGAMEZA ELIA WILLIAM MNMA/BD.EGH/5119/22
06 MALIMBA INOCENT JOSEPH MNMA/BD.EGH/5117/22
07 SANYELO SHABIRU RAMADHANI MNMA/BD.EGH/5090/22
08 ZUBERI ZUBERI, H. MNMA/BD.EGH/4860/22
09 MAHUMA MAHUMA, M. MNMA/BD.EGH/4969/22
10 MWASUMBE FEDRIKI DANIEL MNMA/BD.EGH/5077/22
11 CHISONGELA CHARLES Y MNMA/BD.EGH/5016/22
12 MGANGA SAUMU MSAFIRI MNMA/BD.EGH/5051/22
13 ZUMBI EMMANUEL, J. MNMA/BD.EGH/5074/22
14 MWANDI ROIDA, J. MNMA/BD.EGH/5104/22
15 MCHILILI LAILATI I MNMA/BD.EGH/5139/22
16 SANGALA JOAKIM J MNMA/BD.EGH/5054/22
17 ZUBERI OMARI BAKARI MNMA/BD.EGH/5116/22
18 FATUMA O NDAUKA MNMA/BD.EGH/4870/22
19 KALUKULA TATU, K. MNMA/BD.EGH/5039/22
20 MAKAYA SAVIAS FRANCIS MNMA/BD.EGH/4976/22

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1. With examples and illustrations, to discuss various quantitative data presentation techniques.

Data refers to “A representation of facts, concepts or instructions in a formalized manner suitable for
communication, interpretation, or processing by humans or by automatic means.” (Hicks [1993: 668]
quoted by Checkland and Holwell [1998]). Data can be derived from various sources namely; Primary
Sources and Secondary Sources. Primary sources provide first-hand information and are obtained
through various sources like survey and observation while secondary data sources provide second
hand information when are already been collected by someone else and they are collected through
methods like focus group discussion. According to Paul A. Longley in his book “Geographic Information
Systems and Science” Quantitative data in geography refers to data that can be represented
numerically and analyzed using statistical methods including anything that can be counted and
measured. They are obtained through methods like; survey and observation methods. The number
representing a quantitative observation can be continuous or discrete. Continuous data are of any
value within a range and found along a continuous scale. data of this type commonly include a
fractional(decimal) component, such as 21.5⁰c but sometimes involve whole numbers. Discrete data
are those that can take on only certain values and can only be expressed in whole numbers. For
instance, data related to people, animals and so on, these items neither involve fractions nor
decimals. Data Presentation is the manner of arranging the data in an attractive and easy to
understand way. In quantitative data, it can be done through Tabular Form and Graphical Form but to
be well understood Textual Form is combined. The following are the various quantitative data
presentation techniques;

Tabular Form, Tabular presentation is a means of bringing together and presenting related material or
other information in columns or rows. Its object is to present in a concise and orderly fashion
information that could not be presented clearly in any other way1. Since the tabular arrangement
facilitates reference, comparison, and interpretation of the data, it is particularly useful in presenting
large masses of related statistics2. A table’s readability and visual impact depend on its design. Tables
can be simple, representing one variable, or compound, representing two or more variables. Complex
tables with numerous variables have low readability rates. Tabular form must include tittle, scale, key
mention few.

A simple table to depict Mr. Mahuma’s Milk supply to Viwege Secondary School during the first week
of opening from Monday to Friday;

Day Mond Tue Wed Thu Fri

Milk supply (liters) 15 28 37 49 45

Table 1

1
See United States Government Printing Office, Style Manual (revised edition, January 1945), p. 123
2
See United States Government Printing Office, Style Manual (revised edition, January 1945), chapter 1 p. 101-102

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 A compound table to show crop production at Tanganyika’s from 2007 to 2010

Year Crops Production in tons

Rice Wheat Coffee
2007 200 350 450
2008 300 500 650
2009 150 250 300
2010 300 550 800
Table 2

Graphical Form; is another way of analyzing numerical data. A graph is a sort of Graph through which
statistical data are represented in the form of lines or curves drawn across the coordinated points
plotted on its surface. famous John Tukey once wrote in his paper (Tukey, 1993) he summarized the
true purpose of graphic include; Graphics are for the qualitative/descriptive and never for the carefully
quantitative (tables do that better). Graphics are for comparison, comparison of one kind or another 3.
Graphs are essential because enable us in studying the cause and effect relationship between two
variables, help to measure the extent of change in one variable when another variable changes by a
certain amount, are also easy to understand and making comparison. In a graph there are two lines
called coordinate axes. One is vertical known as Y axis and the other is horizontal called X axis. There
are different types of graphs; line & bar graphs, histogram, pie graph, pie charts, proportional circles,
semi circles, squares and divided rectangles, pictograph, choropleth, isoline, and flow line maps, stem-
and-leaf, and box and whiskers, age and sex pyramids, semi logarithmic graphs and others.

A pie Graph; The “pie Graph” also is known as “circle Graph” divides the circular statistical graphic into
sectors or slices, here, the term “pie” represents the whole and the “slices” represents the parts of the
whole. Each sector indicates a proportionate part of the whole which is equal to 360°, total of all data.
This type of graph represents the data in the circular manner. furthermore, A pie graph shows the
relative distribution of a total circle into sections (slices of a pie). The magnitude of each component is
commonly displayed numerically as a percentage (plus absolute numbers) inside or next to each slice
of the circle4. Multiple pie charts can be used to compare different sets of data. sometimes, pie graphs
replace some other graphs like the bar graph, line plots, histograms and so on. The total value of the
pie is always 100%. To work out with the percentage for a pie Graph, various stapes involved include:
Categorize the data, Calculate the total, Divide the categories, convert into percentages, Finally,
calculate the degrees Therefore, the pie Graph formula is given as; (Given Data/Total value of Data) ×
360° and later the same formula will be used to get percentile data as (Given Data/Total value of
Data) × 100%

3
Antony Unwin, Graphical Data Analysis with R (U.S: Taylor & Francis Group Publisher,2015), p3-4
4
Sami L. Bahna, Data presentation (VOLUME 103, October, 2009), p21

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Given the following table which shows students’ favoritism based on sports to draw a pie graph
Football Hockey Cricket Basketball Badminton
10 5 5 10 10
SOLUTION

Enter the data into the table, add all the values in the table to get total (40) then divide each value by
the total and multiply by 100 to get a percentage then by 360° to know how many degrees for each pie
sector, protector is crucial in drawing a pie graph.

Sport Football Hockey Cricket Basketball Badminton Total

10 5 5 10 10
Percentage (10/40) × (5/ 40) × (5/40) × (10/ 40) (10/40) × 40
(%) 100 100 100 ×100 100
25% 12.5% 12.5% 25% 25% 100%
Degrees(x⁰) (10/ 40) × (5 / 40) × (5/40) × (10/ 40) × (10/ 40) × 40
360° 360° 360° 360° 360°
90° 45° 45° 90° 90° 360°

A PIE GRAPH TO SHOW FAVOURITE SPORTS IN PERCENTAGE

KEY
Football Hockey Cricket Basketball Badminton

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Bar Graph; It displays the data using a number of rectangles, of the same width, each of which
represents a particular category. Bar graphs can be displayed horizontally or vertically and they are
usually drawn with a gap between the bars (rectangles). Bar graph can be simple or compound. In
constructing this graph, you should choose the scale (vertical and horizontal scale)

A simple bar graph to show favorite fruit by students in school

Favorite Banana Apple Orange Strawberry Kiwi Grapes

fruit
Number of 6 5 4 10 3 1
students

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Histogram: The histogram is actually a set of bars next to each other without spacing to represent a
continuous quantitative variable. The horizontal axis represents the numerical variable and the vertical
axis represents the frequency. Histogram it is easy to draw and simple to understand as well as helps us
to understand the distribution easily and quickly.

Age 0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30

group/year
Number of 5 28 45 52 38 28
people

A HISTOGRAM TO SHOW AGE GROUP IN 2024 SCALE:VS,1Cm to 10Students

HS,2cm to 1age group

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Line graph: A line graph is less or more like a bar graph with the tops of the bars represented by points
joined by lines (David Lane,2023) or line graphs are effective tools for displaying trends or patterns in
data over time, with the x-axis representing time or another continuous variable and the y-axis showing
the corresponding values(Kieran Healy,2018). It can be a single line or multiple, each representing a
separate set of data.

A SIMPLE LINE GRAPH TO ILLUSTRATE NUMBER OF EARTHQUAKES IN A YEAR

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Scatterplot graph; The most useful graph for displaying the relationship between two quantitative
variables (Moore & Flinger,2013). Many research projects are correlational studies because they
investigate the relationships that may exist between variables. Prior to investigating the relationship
between two quantitative variables, it is always helpful to create a graphical representation that
includes both of these variables. A scatterplot shows the relationship between two quantitative
variables measured for the same individuals. The values of one variable appear on the horizontal axis,
and the values of the other variable appear on the vertical axis. Each individual in the data appears as a
point on the graph. The overall pattern of a scatterplot can be described by the direction, form, and
strength of the relationship. Two variables may have positive or negative association also linear or
curvilinear relationship as well as strong, moderate or weak relationship.

A scatterplot to illustrate the relationship between traders’ output and input of their business
TRADERS A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T
OUTPUT 10 15 16 25 20 21 28 30 37 34 34 40 42 42 40 55 57 60 55 78
INPUT 10.1 10.3 11.5 11.5 12.2 12.4 13.7 13.7 14 14.1 15.8 16 16.1 16.4 16.4 18 18.7 19 20 24

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Age-Sex Graph; it is a graph which used to depict age-sex distribution in a particular population
structure. It is also called a Population pyramid. It involves horizontal bars represented in either
percentage (%) or absolute value of population in a certain age group 5

Population census data in Mwanza in 1978

Sex
Age Male Female
0-4 639,000 700,000
5-9 611,000 680,000
10-14 500,000 650,000
15-19 520,000 648,000
20-24 515,000 640,000
25-29 480,000 600,000
30-34 450,000 500,000
35-39 320,000 400,000

A POPULATION PYRAMID SHOWING POPULATION CENSUS DATA FOR MWANZA IN 1978

SCALE:VS,1CM TO 1 AGE GROUP

HS,1CM TO 100,000 PEOPLE

5
Ahmed Lubwana, Elementary Practical Geography for Advanced Level (1st Edition,2015), p82-84

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Choropleth Maps; The choropleth mapping technique, it uses “ranges” or “graduated color”. The name
of this technique is derived from the Greek words “choros” meaning space and “pleth” meaning value, it
is a type of thematic mapping that focuses usually on a single theme with data summarized by statistical
or administrative areas. These are maps where areas are shaded according to a prearranged key and
each shade or color type represents a range of values6. Choropleth maps are also appropriate for
indicating differences in land use, like the amount of agricultural land, recreational land or type of forest
cover and other production.

Choropleth map to show population density in United States of America;

6
Dr. Geeta Rawat, Department of Geography and Natural Resource Management School of Earth and environment Science (Uttarakhand
Open University, Haldwani, Nainital,2021) p36

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Isopleth maps; isopleth has been derived from Greek word “isos” meaning same and “plethron”
meaning measure. Thus, isopleths are lines joining places of equal value on a map. This value may be in
the form of quantity, intensity or density7.Isopleth maps are more common for mapping surface
elevations, amounts of precipitation, atmospheric pressure and various other measurements. Radar
maps, temperature maps and rainfall maps are all isopleths maps. Some of the examples of isopleths
are; Isobar(lines connecting points with equal atmospheric pressure at a given time), Isotherms(lines
connecting places with same temperature at a given time), Isohyets(lines connecting areas of equal
rainfall at any given time), Isohaline (lines connecting areas of equal salinity at any given time),
Isoseismic( lines connecting areas of equal seismic intensity at any given area).

An examples of isopleth maps;

7
Dr. Geeta Rawat, Department of Geography and Natural Resource Management School of Earth and environment Science (Uttarakhand
Open University, Haldwani, Nainital,2021) p31

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All in all, quantitative data presentation methods are crucial in various field of studies not only for
geographers but also for other specialists like Mathematicians, Physicians and so on, thus why it is
important for every educated person to have such skills because will help them to conduct various
projects based on their careers of study. This will be promoted through putting quantitative technique in
geography as independently subject from ordinary to higher levels as well as, through increasing
professional and expertise teachers who will be used to offer this course.

References
CRESWEL, J. W. (2009). RESEARCH DESIGN Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches.
LONDON: SAGE Publication, Inc.

HEALY, K. (2018). DATA VISUALIZATION A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION. Princeton University Press.

J.TREIMAN, D. (2009). QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS Doing Social Research to Test Ideas. Market
Streat, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

JACKSON, S. L. (2009). RESEARCH METHODS AND STATISTICS A CRITICAL THINKING APPROACH. Canada:
Nelson Education, Ltd.

JENKINSON, B. L. (1949). BUREAU OF THE CENSUS MANUAL OF TABULAR PRESENTATION. WASHNGTON:

U.S. Government Printing Office.

Lane, D. M. (2023). BEHAVIORAL STATISTICS. US: ToussaintPsyc350.

Longley, P. A. (2001). Geographic Information System and Science. John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Richard Harris. (2013). Quantitative Methods in Geography Making the connections between Schools,
Universities and Employers. London: Royal Geographical Society with IBG.

Unwin, A. (2015). Graphical Data Analysis. U.S: Taylor & Francis Group.

WILLIAM E. MARTIN KRISTA D. BRIDGMON. (2012). QUANTITATIVE AND STATISTICAL RESEARCH

METHODS FROM HYPOTHESIS TO RESULTS. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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