BESAG-NEWELLS'S AND KULLDORFF'S SPATIAL SCAN METHODS IN DETECTING SPATIAL CLUSTERING

Abstract

The Besag-Newell and Kulldorff’s Spatial Scan are used to detect the spatial clustering
of malaria incidence of the 177 barangays in the 11 island municipalities of Tawi-Tawi
province. ClusterSeer and SaTScan are the two (2) specialized clustering software
that processed the data. The data analysis for the Besag-Newell’s method resulted in
51 local clusters using ClusterSeer and the same result of 51 clusters using Kulldorff’s
Spatial Scan method. The QGIS visualizes these results, thus showing the geographical
locations of malaria incidence in Tawi-Tawi province. It was recommended that for
those who are fascinated to study more about detecting spatial clustering using Spatial and Space-time Scan statistics, the researcher recommends that if ever they preferred
to use these methods, they have to use some statistical software for the analysis. Also,
encourage them to provide another way of interpreting the test’s significance aside from the Monte Carlo randomization method to lead them more to an appropriate test.