CSIS Discussion Paper No. 122 A method for analyzing the segregation between point distributions

This paper proposes a new method for analyzing the segregation between point distributions. Though there have been proposed numerous methods and measures in segregation analysis, they have at least three deficiencies: 1) statistical significance of segregation is not evaluated, 2) aspatial properties of points are not considered, and 3) the relationship between different dimensions of segregation is not fully discussed. To resolve these problems, this paper proposes a new method for analyzing the segregation between point distributions. We introduce a general procedure of evaluating the individual components of segregation. This procedure helps us find independent components of segregation, and provides a means of assessing their statistical significance. To test the validity of the proposed method, we apply it to three datasets of different sizes. The result supports the technical soundness of the method, and provides empirical findings.