Quantitative methods: advancement in ecological inference.

I Introduction, Over the years, the style of the progress reports on quantitative methods has varied from an assessment of recent contributions in scholarly journals to a detailed explication of a particular quantitative method. Examples of the latter are the reports by Wrigley during the 1980s, wherein he introduced many human geographers to quantitative methods that had been developed outside the discipline yet promised to make a considerable contribution within the discipline. At the time the readership was generally well versed in linear regression methods and cross-sectional analysis, but generally unfamiliar with categorical data analysis and longitudinal methods. Wrigley’s (1982; 1986) reports went a long way towards encouraging progress in human geography by challenging the discipline to consider new and promising quantitative techniques. Such is the goal of the current report. Recent advancement in the analysis of ecological inference has the potential to make a significant contribution to geographic inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]