*Fieldwork (Paper 3) Flashcards
This deck includes questions based on the unfamiliar fieldwork element of paper 3. Paper 3 will also test you on the pre-release material which is not covered in these Brainscape decks.
Identify the 6 stages in a geographical enquiry
- Question / hypothesis
- Data collection
- Data presentation
- Analysis of data
- Concluding
- Evaluating
What are the features of a good enquiry question?
- It should be closely linked to your chosen topic of study
- The question is not too broad or too specific
- The question may have a series of sub-questions that will focus your data collection
What is a hypothesis?
A statement of what you think you will find.
e.g. ‘The more visitors in a location, the more traffic that will be found’
Name the two different types of data that you can collect to help you answer your enquiry question?
- Primary data
- Secondary data
What is primary data? Give an example
Data you have collected yourself or as a group e.g. traffic count
What is secondary data? Give an example
Information that someone else has collected, that helps you answer your question. e.g. newspaper article, data collected by an agency
What is a risk assessment?
An assessment of the potential hazards and risks that you may be exposed to when carrying out your data collection e.g. crossing roads, speaking to members of the public, entering a river
Give an example of how you might minimise some risks when carrying out fieldwork
- Always stay in groups
- Carry a map to ensure you do not get lost
- Wearing sensible footwear
- Using relevant safety equipment
What is meant by ‘data collection’?
Gathering information that will help you answer your enquiry question. This can be in number form or a verbal (written) format.
What is meant by ‘sample size’?
The amount of data sets you will be collecting.
How does sample size affect the reliability of your data?
A bigger or more regular sample will improve reliability as you will be able to see if any data stands out / has happened by chance (anomalies)
How can you ensure that the data you collect is accurate?
- Take more than one reading and take an average
- Check equipment before it is used to make sure it works
- Get more than one student to record the information
What is quantitative data?
Data in numerical form (numbers)
What is qualitative data?
Data in word form
What are the advantages of collecting quantitative data?
- It can be manipulated and turned into averages / percentages to make analysis easier
- More objective than qualitative
What are the disadvantages of collecting qualitative data?
Time consuming to collect Information gathered can be subjective (opinion based)
What is a random sample?
Randomly choosing a person to take part in a survey, or picking up a random pebble on the beach.
What is a systematic sample?
Coming up with a system that will help you pick your data e.g. choosing every 10th person to take part in a survey or choosing pebbles from the beach at 5m intervals
What is a stratified sample?
Creating a sample that is representative of a population. e.g. finding out the proportion of each age group of people that visit a shop, then asking the same proportion of ages in your survey
How should you choose your fieldwork location?
- Somewhere that is safe
- A nearby / easy to reach area for each of access
- A site / location where you can investigate your chosen topic e.g. a beach that has groynes will be suitable for coastal management fieldwork
How can you record data collected?
- In a tally chart
- In a table
- Using a camera to take photographs
- Field sketches
Identify some qualitative data collection methods
- Survey / questionnaire
- Interview
- Photographing the area
Identify some quantitative fieldwork data collection
- Traffic count
- Pedestrian count
- Timing velocity
- Measuring distances
Identify some methods of data presentation
- Graphs/ charts (line, pie, bar, scatter)
- Maps (proportional symbols, located pie/bar charts, choropleth)
- Tables (tally, raw data)
- Aerial photos
- Annotated photos
- GIS
- Field sketches
What do you have to consider when presentating your data accurately?
- Whether the data is continuous or discrete data
- Whether raw data or percentages is more useful
- Does data need to be compared by location?
What is continuous data?
Data that does _not_ need to fit into certain values e.g. heights
What is discrete data?
Data that fits into particular categories e.g. number of students in a class
What is GIS?
Geographical Information System
What is data analysis?
Making sense of the data and looking for patterns and anomalies
What is an anomaly?
Data that stands out / does not fit the pattern
How can you analyse quantitative data?
- Make averages
- Find percentages
- Look at ranges / median / modal data
How can you analyse qualitative data?
- Coding - highlight common themes in data
- Annotate information
- Look for common words or phrases
- Turn it into quantitative by counting verbal responses
- Use a statistical test
What is a conclusion?
A summary of your findings in line with your initial enquiry question
What should your conclusion include?
- Key findings from your data
- An explanation of what you found out
- Decision as to whether you can prove or disprove your hypothesis
What is an evaluation?
A critique of what went well in your investigation and what you would do differently
What does validity mean?
Did your enquiry test what it set out to test?
What does reliability mean?
Are your results consistent? Would you get the same results if you repeated your survey?
What aspects of your enquiry might affect the quality, reliability and validity of your results?
- Sample size
- Equipment used
- Time collection was carried out
- Location
- Type of data used (source of secondary data)
- Sampling method
- Frequency of sample
How could you reduce anomalies in data?
- Take multiple readings and take an average
- Carry out tests in multiple sites
- Check equipment before use
What factors might limit the data you have collected?
- Time data was collected
- Limited range of sites used
- Data collection methods used
