A History of Regression: Actors, Networks, Machines, and Numbers

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper the history of correlation and regression analyses, both in the discipline of statistics generally and in human geography particularly, is examined. It is argued that correlation and regression analysis emerged from a particular social and cultural context, and that this context entered into the very nature of those techniques. The paper is divided into three sections. First, to counter the idea that mathematics and statistics are somehow outside the social, the arguments put forward by David Bloor and Bruno Latour suggesting that mathematical propositions arc socially constructed are briefly reviewed. Second, using the ideas of both Bloor and Latour I turn to the development of statistics as an intellectual discipline during the 19th century, and specifically to the invention of correlation and regression at the end of that period. It is argued that the development of statistics as a discipline and its associated techniques are both stamped by, but also leave their stamp on, the wider society in which they are set. Last, the importation of correlation and regression analyses into human geography which occurred in the 1950s is examined. Following my general social constructionist argument, it is suggested that because of the difference in context the correlation and regression analyses devised in the late 19th century were often inappropriate for mid-20th century spatial science.

Putting Geography in its Place

“…Some have turned to insights from the history and philosophy of science and have debated the relevance of Kuhn's paradigmatic perspective, the idea of invisible colleges and the like, in the production of geographical knowledge (see Mair [1986]). Drawing inspiration from the same broad domain of inquiry, others have put versions of the sociology of scientific knowledge to good effect in disentangling aspects of geography's recent history, among which Trevor Barnes's account of the social history of regression, which calls on the actornetwork theory of Bruno Latour, is especially notable (Barnes, 1998). At the same time, inspiration has been found in the writings of postcolonial theorists either to critique the western bias of our disciplinary stories, or to identify the role of geographical knowledges and practices in the production of such locational imaginaries as the Orient, the Tropics, the Pacific or 'darkest' Africa (see, for example, Driver [1992]).…”

Mapping Research in Landscape Architecture: Balancing Supply of Academic Knowledge and Demand of Professional Practice

“…Landscape architecture had a significant knowledge advancement in analytic/empirical explanations through academic research during the 1950-70s decades, especially in ecological planning (e.g., Fabos, 1979;Lewis, 1968aLewis, , 1968bMcHarg, 1969;Steinitz, Murray, Sinton, & Way, 1969) and in environmental psychology (e.g., Kaplan & Kaplan, 1982;Leopold, 1969;Litton, 1968;Shafer & Brush, 1977;U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 1975), and another advancement in intuitive/holistic explanations in the 1980-90s (Simo, 1999;Swaffield, 2002), especially in cultural landscape studies (e.g., Barnes, 1998;Groth, 1997;Groth & Bressi, 1997). Fein (1972) observed that research and knowledge advancement in ecological planning had expanded landscape architecture practice from traditional focus, i.e.…”

Encountering soviet geography: oral histories of British geographical studies of the USSR and Eastern Europe 1945–1991

“…Our project finds strong methodological parallels in Trevor Barnes' use of oral history to explore the emergence of spatial science within geography in the 1950s and 1960s (Barnes 1998(Barnes , 2001(Barnes , 2002(Barnes , 2004a(Barnes , 2004b. Using interviews with thirty-six geographers alongside documentary and archival sources, Barnes has sought to understand the place of geography's quantitative revolution in terms of the geography and sociology of scientific knowledge (Barnes 2004a).…”

“…The term 'soviet geography' can act as useful shorthand, and yet can mislead in suggesting a concern only for the USSR, or a concern for geographers from the USSR, or a focus on a particular political structure. A more complex yet accurate definition of our work is that of studies by British-based geographers of the USSR and those East European countries within the 'Soviet bloc', plus Yugoslavia and Albania.Our project finds strong methodological parallels in Trevor Barnes' use of oral history to explore the emergence of spatial science within geography in the 1950s and 1960s (Barnes 1998(Barnes , 2001(Barnes , 2002(Barnes , 2004a(Barnes , 2004b. Using interviews with thirty-six geographers alongside documentary and archival sources, Barnes has sought to understand the place of geography's quantitative revolution in terms of the geography and sociology of scientific knowledge (Barnes 2004a).…”