Environmental Inequality in Germany – A Nation-wide Assessment of the Spatial Patterns Causing Environmental Inequality

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Henning Best
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 418939357

In the second funding phase of the project, we aim to address a critical methodological gap in current studies that combine spatial distribution models with survey data: the inadequate quantification of spatial uncertainty. Standard approaches using the 'normal' toolbox of regression-type analyses completely ignore the uncertainity that is introduced by modelling the spatial distribution of pollutants (or other indicators). This is simply due to the fact that the packages and procedures in Stata and R do not allow taking care of this variance component in a well-defined way. Hence, most existing studies fail to properly incorporate and propagate uncertainty from initial spatial models, which can lead to potentially misleading statistical results. We will develop a comprehensive approach to uncertainty propagation and seek to make a significant methodological contribution to social science research. Our primary objective is to demonstrate a rigorous method for quantifying and integrating spatial uncertainty into multi-level data analysis. This approach will help researchers more accurately estimate confidence intervals and reduce the risk of type I errors – statistical false positives that can arise from imprecise uncertainty handling. While this aim of the second phase of our research project may seem all too technical, it has severe real-world consequences as the previous results may lead to conclusions that are not backed by the data.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Tobias Rüttenauer