The Zone Definition Problem in Survey Research: An Empirical Example from New York State∗

∗Both authors wish to thank the initial reviewers of this paper for their insightful comments, and Kevin Calhoun for his help with the figures.

This paper examines problems of zonal definition in the context of a recent empirical project on the geography of inter-firm linkages in New York State. It is argued that the results of a spatially structured survey of private companies can change significantly depending on the manner in which the study regions of the analysis are defined. Variations in the composition of study regions are a result of either changes in spatial scale, or spatial zoning at any one scale. This point is illustrated with data from 472 New York State manufacturing firms aggregated into four different zonal systems. The results of the analysis suggest that misleading interpretations of spatial data can emerge, even when logical boundaries are selected from the outset.

Key Words:

• MAUP
• survey analysis
• interfirm linkages

Notes

∗Both authors wish to thank the initial reviewers of this paper for their insightful comments, and Kevin Calhoun for his help with the figures.