TABLE OF CONTENTS We now assume that the units of the analyzed level are "thrown" into different contexts or spatial environments playing a constraining role for the studied phenomenon, as was introduced in section 2.2. These contexts define higher level entities and the units of the considered level are analyzed as "all things being equal as for their context". We are using a confirmatory approach. Besides the methods used, it is the conceptual frame that changes, enabling a study focused of the event and the consideration of assumptions associated with the spatial organization of the researched units. Moreover, the approach in terms of context will consider a larger diversity of levels, integrating the territorial as well as dimension levels by proximity relations. In this section, we present local analysis descriptive methods, which are somewhat similar in their mechanisms to the method previously presented, except for what applies to quantitative attributes.
We will attempt to illustrate these methods from a simple example, using univariate information describing European regions. The generalization of this approach with a multivariate table will help us present the analysis of local differences developed by Benali and Escofier [BEN 88]. Finally, other local analysis methods will be described.
The example presented here comes from a contribution to the question of European integration from the standpoint of spatial disparities in the distribution of the level of wealth in the European regions [12] [COL 00]. The...
