Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP): Analysis of Agriculture of the State of Paraná-Brazil

Elizabeth Giron CimaWeimar Freire da Rocha-JuniorMiguel Angel Uribe-OpazoGustavo Henrique Dalposso

DOI 10.7160/aol.2021.130203
No 2/2021, June
pp. 35-50

Cima, E. G., Freire da Rocha-Jr., W., Uribe-Opazo, M. A. and Dalposso, G. H. (2021) "Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP): Analysis of Agricultural of the State of Paraná-Brazil", AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 35-50. ISSN 1804-1930. DOI 10.7160/aol.2021.130203.

Abstract

The way the researcher groups his research data will influence the result of his work. In the literature, this phenomenon is treated as a Problem of the Modifiable Areal Unit. The objective of this article was to analyze the three spatial levels by Municipalities, Regional Centers and Mesoregions using the following data: gross domestic product, effective agricultural production, grain production and gross value of agricultural production for the state of Paraná-Brazil in the period since 2012 until 2015. The methodological procedure studied data from the Paranaense Institute for Economic and Social Development of the above-named variables collected on the website of the Paranaense Institute for Economic and Social Development of the 399 municipalities, 23 regional centers and 10 mesoregions. The results found show the presence of the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem, presenting different results for each level of grouping. The study revealed the problem of the modifiable areal unit is a relevant occurrence and it should be disregarded by researchers who work with clusters of spatial data in their studies. The results found allow a better understanding of the scale effect and demonstrate the efficiency of spatial analysis in socioeconomic data.

Keywords

Aggregation, agribusiness, autocorrelation, scale effect, spatial process, decision making.

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