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Method guides

Method guides

Plain-language explanations of each method: what question it answers, what the output means, and the mistakes to avoid. Each guide ends with a sample project to try it on.

Fitted variogram of soil organic carbon · one Ontario field
A variogram chart for soil organic carbon: blue experimental points rising from a semivariance near 0.5 to a plateau just above 1.1 over about 570 m, with the fitted model curve through them and a dashed line for the sample variance.
Geostatistics · 8 minSpatial interpolation (kriging), explained for epidemiologistsVariograms, weights and uncertainty without the matrix algebra.
  • Nearby things are more alike
  • From weights to a surface
  • Report the uncertainty too
The Advisor proposes the CDC PLACES diabetes import · U.S. counties, 2020–2024
The Advisor panel on a dark background: its reply plans an import of CDC PLACES diabetes prevalence for U.S. counties across the 2020 to 2024 releases and a separate Census poverty import, with the import card and its outcome showing 3,109 records and a note that earlier releases were carried onto 2024 counties.
Start hereChoosing a methodA decision guide from your question and data type to the right analysis.
  • Points or areas?
  • Describe, explain or predict?
  • When time matters
Local Moran's I clusters · diabetes among U.S. adults, by county
A map of U.S. counties colored by Local Moran's I cluster class, with high-high clusters across the South and low-low clusters in the Mountain West and Northeast.
ClustersLocal Moran's I vs scan statisticsWhich cluster method answers which question.
  • Local autocorrelation
  • Circular and space-time scans
  • Reading Monte Carlo p-values
Local GWR slope · diabetes per point of poverty, U.S. counties
A map of U.S. counties shaded by the local geographically weighted regression slope of diabetes on poverty, with the steepest slopes in red across parts of the Southeast and the Southwest.
RegressionGeographically weighted regression in practiceBandwidth, local R² and how to read coefficient maps.
  • Global vs local models
  • Choosing a bandwidth
  • Mapping local coefficients
County overdose death rates with the statewide joinpoint trend (2014) · Ohio, 2003–2021
A scatter of county death rates from 2003 to 2021 with a fitted joinpoint trend line that steepens after 2014.
TrendsJoinpoint regression for surveillanceFinding the year a trend changed, and reporting APC.
  • Segments and joinpoints
  • Annual percent change
  • Comparing places
Diagnosed diabetes, adults (%) · U.S. counties, 2022
A county map of the United States shaded by the percent of adults with diagnosed diabetes in 2022, darkest across the South and Appalachia.
DataRates from small numbersWhy rates in small populations are unstable, and how the import wizard spots them and offers to smooth them.
  • Why small counts mislead
  • When the import wizard suggests smoothing
  • Empirical Bayes smoothing

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