Climate Vulnerability in Malawi

: In this lesson, we will understand methodology for mapping climate vulnerability in Malawi.

Reading

Malcomb, D. W., E. A. Weaver, and A. R. Krakowka. 2014. Vulnerability modeling for sub-Saharan Africa: An operationalized approach in Malawi. Applied Geography 48:17–30. DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.01.004

Our next GIS analysis challenge is to reproduce the Malcomb et al (2014) paper cited above. Our first task in doing so is to undertand the data and methods applied in this paper to the fullest extent and greatest detail possible, before we study and improve upon an implementation of the methods in R.

To this goal, please take notes on:

• All data sources and variables used
• All analytical steps taken, e.g. by drafting a workflow diagram for the paper’s methods
• Any information we can use to verify our results as we reproduce the paper. For example, descriptive statistics, quantitative results, or mapped results.

In addition, you may want to think about the construct validity of the paper in terms of the relationship between theoretical concepts and the quantitative/spatial measurements and analytical tools used to represent the concepts in GIS.

In small groups, aim to have a complete workflow for the paper’s methodology as a markdown text document by Wednesday, April 14. This workflow should be based on information in the paper only, without looking at any of the data.

Main Page