Fieldwork Flashcards
TITLE for Physical geography
To investigate the effect of trampling on vegetation, at Reigate Heath in Surrey.
TITLE for Human Geography
To investigate the patterns of housing and environmental quality in Reigate
Areas of data collection for Physical investigation
Series of transects in the north west of the heath
Areas of data collection for Human Investigation
-Doods road, Reigate
-Holmesdale road, Reigate
Physical geography data collection methods
-The widths and depths of the footpath
-Percentage cover of vegetation
-Count how many species there are (biodiversity)
-Measure tallest plant
-Field sketch
Human geography data collection methods
Environmental quality survey
Risks in Physical geography investigation and how to reduce risk
Tic bites- wear long sleeved clothes and trousers
Sun stroke - sun cream
Snake bites
Tripping over roots- watch your step
Risks in Human geography investigation and how to reduce risk
-Crossing road and being hit by traffic - Look both ways before crossing road or cross at zebra crossings
-Adverse weather, risk of injury - Wear suitable clothing and footwear
Getting lost or abducted by a stranger - stay in groups, meeting times established, verbal warning given
Results in physical investigation
-17% vegetation cover resulted in 1 species with a height of 4.5 cm
-28% vegetation cover resulted in 2 types of species with a height of 6.6cm
Why use a quadrat in physical investigation
-Quadrat sampling allows study of vegetation spread out over large areas
Problem with quadrat sampling
It’s only an estimate of vegetation cover so it is not fully accurate
Conclusion of physical investigation
-Vegetation cover in percentage increases with distance away from footpath
-Due to human usage being more concentrated towards footpath, through dog walkers and members of the public
Primary data for physical investigation
Quadrat sampling for cover of vegetation, species count, height of tallest species
Secondary data for physical investigation
-Historical data, OS map, Management plan for Reigate Heath.
Evaluation of Physical investigation
-Difficult to measure exact % vegetation cover within quadrat
-Only carried out at one point within the year
-Only carried out investigation at one point in the heath, it is not representative to the heath as a whole.
How do issues affect conclusions
They won’t be as accurate
How could you improve physical investigation
Increase sample size to 10 quadrats to make it more representative, and would back up my idea that vegetation cover increases with distance from the footpath.
What type of sampling methods is used in physical investigation
-Stratified to choose 6 sites for 6 classes and systematically every 1 meter along the 10m path.
Primary data for Human investigation
Environmental Quality survey and Housing Quality survey, photos
Secondary data for Human investigation
Census data, Index of multiple deprivation, Zoopla for house pricing
Data collection methods for Human investigation
Housing quality survey - score given on features of house
Environmental quality survey - attractiveness of features -2 - +2
Advantages and Disadvantages of using a bar chart to present data (Human)
Advantages:
+ Good visual technique for categorical data
+Can give see trends of environmental quality between streets easily
-using too few categories can mask important patterns in the data
Advantages and disadvantages of using a kite diagram for Physical results
+Useful for displaying changes over distance
+Visually clear and easy to interpret one category from another
+Comparisons can easily be made
-Visually subjective as the scale influences visual effect
-Only works with a specific range of data
-Time-consuming to construct by hand
Conclusion of human investigation
-Housing and environmental quality increases with distance from the CBD of Reigate
Explanation of conclusion (human)
The further from CBD the larger the houses and the more well maintained they were e.g. High trees road and Waterlow road scored highly
Characteristics of houses further from CBD of Reigate
Larger driveways, front and back gardens and garage
Evaluation of Human investigation
-Methods support conclusion to some extent, putting Reigate in zones provided good spatial coverage
Problems with Data collection methods (Human)
-Housing quality surveys and Environmental quality surveys are very subjective and opinionated.
-Certain streets weren’t represented in the data collected, not truly representative of urban zoning and Reigate.
How to improve results in human investigation
-Results could be supported using Censes and Index of Multiple Deprivation data, to provide greater insight into socio-economic characteristics.
Hypothesis for both investigations
-As distance from the footpath at Reigate Heath increases, the percentage of vegetation cover increases (Physical)
-As you get further from the CBD of Reigate, The housing and environmental quality increases
What score did Deering’s Road score on the Environmental Quality survey?
11
Issues with Environmental Quality Survey and Housing Quality Survey
They only range from -2 to +2 meaning that it is hard to differentiate good and bad quality.
As the height of land in Reigate increases what else increases?
The housing and environmental quality
Advantages of using stratified sampling in Physical Fieldwork
There were a number of classes and we were able to strategically select land to investigate on to ensure data collected is representative.
Advantages of using Systematic sampling
Allowed us to place the quadrat every 1m and avoid bias giving representative data.
Why do we use a field sketch?
To help explain results
Why are OS maps useful for conducting a geographical investigation?
Because it enables us to select appropriate sites.
Evaluation for Human investigation
-Methods support conclusion to some extent as 10 streets were sampled making it representative to the population.
-EQS and HQS surveys have an element of subjectivity
-EQS and HQS only range from -2 to +2 so can’t differentiate good and bad quality
-Results could be improved using census data
What is the purpose of a desire line
It can show the movement of people in an urban context e.g. people commuting
Ways of presenting Quantitive data
-Pie Charts
-Bar charts
-Histograms
-Line graph
-Pictogram
Ways of presenting qualitative data
-Word clouds
-Annotated photos
-Mind maps
-Quote banks
