What if residuals are autocorrelated?

Autocorrelation occurs when the residuals are not independent of each other. That is, when the value of e[i+1] is not independent from e[i]. While a residual plot, or lag-1 plot allows you to visually check for autocorrelation, you can formally test the hypothesis using the Durbin-Watson test.

What does spatial autocorrelation tell us?

Positive spatial autocorrelation means that geographically nearby values of a variable tend to be similar on a map: high values tend to be located near high values, medium values near medium values, and low values near low values. Spatial autocorrelation in crime data has often been observed (Ratcliffe, 2002).

What are the implications of significant spatial autocorrelation on correlation results?

If there is spatial autocorrelation in data it will lead to a spatial correlation of residuals, for example positive residuals will tend to occur together. If spatial autocorrelation is present it will violate the assumption about the independence of residuals and call into question the validity of hypothesis testing.

What causes spatial autocorrelation?

The causes of spatial autocorrelation are manifold, but three factors are particularly common (Legendre and Fortin 1989, Legendre 1993, Legendre and Legendre 1998): 1) biological processes such as speciation, extinction, dispersal or species interactions are distance-related; 2) non-linear relationships between …

How do you deal with autocorrelation in residuals?

There are basically two methods to reduce autocorrelation, of which the first one is most important:

  1. Improve model fit. Try to capture structure in the data in the model.
  2. If no more predictors can be added, include an AR1 model.

Is spatial autocorrelation good or bad?

Why is Spatial Autocorrelation Important? One of the main reasons why spatial auto-correlation is important is because statistics rely on observations being independent of one another. If autocorrelation exists in a map, then this violates the fact that observations are independent of one another.

What is spatial autocorrelation in regression?

Spatial autocorrelation represents the correlations between the values of a random variable at a location and the values of the same variable at “neighbor- ing” locations.

What is the difference between spatial correlation and spatial autocorrelation?

Spatial correlation is positive when similar values cluster together on a map. Positive autocorrelation occurs when Moren I is close to +1. The image below shows the land cover in an area and it is an example of a positive correlation since similar clusters are nearby.

How do you address spatial autocorrelation?

One relatively simple way of detecting spatial autocorrelation is to explore whether there are any spatial patterns in the residuals. To do this, we plot the sampling unit coordinates (latitude and longitude) such that the size, shape and or colors of the points reflect the residuals associated with these observations.

Why is autocorrelation bad in regression?

Violation of the no autocorrelation assumption on the disturbances, will lead to inefficiency of the least squares estimates, i.e., no longer having the smallest variance among all linear unbiased estimators. It also leads to wrong standard errors for the regression coefficient estimates.

Is autocorrelation a problem in regression?

Autocorrelation can cause problems in conventional analyses (such as ordinary least squares regression) that assume independence of observations. In a regression analysis, autocorrelation of the regression residuals can also occur if the model is incorrectly specified.