Human Fieldwork

Question 1

What was the enquiry question and aim of this fieldwork?

Answer 1

Enquiry question: how does the quality of life vary in Guilford town centre.

Aim: to investigate how and why quality of life varies within Guilford town centre.

Question 2

What is the hypothesis of our human field work?

Answer 2

The quality of life will increase as the distance from Guilford town centre increases.

Question 3

Where is Guilford located?

Answer 3

Guilford is a large town located in Surrey, in the south east of England. It is situated south west of central London.

OS grid reference: SU9949

Question 4

How did we take the litter count and what equipment did we use?

Answer 4

Equipment: pen, iPad, paper.
Method:
1) firstly I set the timer for 10 minutes on the iPad.
2) then I walk around and noted down all the litter I could see until the timer ran out.
3) the amount of litter and type of litter were both recorded.
4)this was then repeated for each site.

(This is random, quantitative sampling)

Question 5

Why did we do a litter count?

Answer 5

This was used to find out how the quality of life varied in Guilford. The litter count was important because it showed us the more litter there was the poorer the area.

Question 6

How did we take the traffic count and what equipment did we use?

Answer 6

Equipment: pen, paper, iPad.
Method:
1) First I set the timer for 3 minutes on the iPad.
2)then I chose a direction (lane). Don’t count vehicles on both sides of road.
3)then I stood and made a tally of all the vehicles that passed and took note of what sort of vehicle it was and recorded it in my information booklet. I did this until the time ran out.
4) I repeated this at all the locations.

Question 7

Why did we do a traffic count?

Answer 7

This was used to see how the quality of life in Guilford varied. It was important because it showed the mike traffic there was the worse the standard of living due to noise pollution.

Question 8

What were the limitations of doing a traffic count?

Answer 8

There may have been an event in that area in that day or an accident, so traffic could have been diverted me sing there would have been more than there normally was. Weather could also play a part. If it’s raining more people would take a car than cycle or walk increasing traffic count again. Also the time of day we did the traffic count at each site was different. At Stoke Park we took the traffic count at rush hour (9 o’clock) but at G live we did it at 11 o’clock when it wasn’t busy.

Question 9

Her did we take the Decibel reading and what equipment did we use?

Answer 9

Equipment: pen, paper, iPad (Decibel Reading app).
Method:
1) firstly we opened the Decibel app on out iPad.
2) then we took the current Decibel Reading, average Decibel Reading and maximum Decibel Reading indicated on the iPad under each label. Then we also recorded the example of the noise level and recorded this on out booklets.
3) then we repeated this again fir all the other sites.

Question 10

Why did we do a Decibel Reading at each site?

Answer 10

This was used to find out the average noise level. This is important because it tells more noisy an area is the more developed it is (e.g more noisy in the town centre) or if the area is particularly rowdy.

Question 11

How did we take the Bi-polar/environmental quality survey and what equipment did we use?

Answer 11

Equipment: Pen, paper, booklet.
Method:
1)firstly, we chose a spot to stand. Ensure this spot is appropriate and not biased.
2) then we looked at our surroundings and decided how noisy we thought the area was for the site on a scale of -3 to +3. (-3 being very noisy and +3 being very quiet). We then repeated this for all the other factors including how: busy, litter, safety, aesthetically pleasing, facilities, wildlife, polluted the area, green space, maintenance of buildings, traffic and graffiti.
3) we then decided in a number between -3 and +3 for each factor and repeated this for each site. When we arrived back at school we plotted a bi-polar chart.

Question 12

Why did we do a bi-polar survey?

Answer 12

This was used to find out the average quality of life of the area for each of these factors. This can then indicate to us how developed the area is. For example, if an area is mostly +3 it suggests the quality of life is better there.

Question 13

What are the limitations of a bi-polar survey?

Answer 13

Only see immediate surroundings. So, if you walked for 2 minutes down the road it may actually be very different and you might get very different results even though it is the same area.

Question 14

How did we use annoyed photos to measure the quality of life at the different sites?

Answer 14

Equipment: pen, iPad, photo of surrounding (can be on iPad).
Method:
1) firstly, we took multiple photos of out surroundings. make sure these photos show an accurate fair representation of what you see.
2)next using mark-up/ notes on your iPad make detailed annotations of what you see and what this suggests about the area. I sure you give accurate descriptions for key factors in each photo taken at each site.
3) then repeat this at each site using the same method.

Question 15

Why did we take annotated photos?

Answer 15

This was used to see what key factors or points in an area could suggest whether quality of life improves further out of Guilford town centre. E.g the fact that houses across the road near Stoke park were large with big gardens suggest our hypothesis was correct.

Question 16

What are the limitations of using annotated phots to measure and compare the quality of life?

Answer 16

You can only see immediate surroundings and not further around you. The photo limits you to a specific area which may be incorrect as the other surrounds may be very different.

Question 17

How did we take questionnaires at different sites?

Answer 17

1) firstly we had previously prepared in class a range of both and and closed questions over a variety of different factions regarding the quality of life.
2) then in groups of about 3-4 we approached a person and introduced ourselves and explained we were doing GCSE Geography and investigating how the quality of life changes the further out of the town centre you go.

3) the if they agreed to answer our survey we asked them our questions and they answered to them the best they could. We record this information.
4) Then, once finished we thanked them for their time and found another person to interview. We tried to get about 6 people per site but due to the bad weather at the start if day we only interviewed 3 people at Stoke Park. We repeated this at all the sites.

Question 18

Why did we conduct questionnaires at each site to measure the quality of life?

Answer 18

This was used to gain a perspective of what the public, particularly those living in Guilford felt about certain factors that linked with quality life. This is because they are the ones experiencing it so this gave us an insight to their views and how they felt about each of the factors asked about. This told us how the people felt and was important because they would have the most accurate answers.

Question 19

What are the limitations with conducting a questionnaire?

Answer 19

We could only ask a certain amount of people in each area which gave us a limited view of how they felt. To make it fair we would have needed a range of people with different genders across different age groups. E.g a young female might have a very different view to an old male.

Question 20

Define the term quality of life:

Answer 20

A measure of how ‘wealthy’ people are, but measured using criteria such as, housing, employment and environmental factors rather than income.

Question 21

How severe was the risk of getting lost and how did we manage the risk?

Answer 21

Likelihood: 3/5
Severity: 3/5
Management:
-students to wear school inform so easily recognised.
-told to keep in groups minimum of 3 and were given a meeting pint if lost.
-students given a card explaining they were on a trip, what school the were from and multiple phone numbers that could access teachers.

Question 22

How severe was the risk of traffic and how did we manage the risk?

Answer 22

Likelihood: 4
Severity:4
Management:
-used pedestrian crossings at all times and cross road in groups.
-teachers should make students aware if traffic and students should walk on footpath to ensure students don’t get run over.

Question 23

How did we create a circle proportional graph measuring rubbish?

Answer 23

First we chose a scale e.g 5mm=10 pieces of litter. Then depending on your amount of litter work out the diameter. So in your location you may have 60 pieces of litter. Multiply 5x60 to get 300mm. Half this to get the radio 1.5cm. Then using a compass and ruler measure 1.5 cm on your ruler and then measure this against your compass. Place your compass on the correct destination on the map and draw a circle. Repeat this for another 2 sites.

Question 24

What website did we get our crime rate date from and what you of data is this.

Answer 24

Crime rate: (In August 2018): https://www.police.uk/Surrey/GDGT/crime

This is secondary data.

Question 25

Using secondary data of the Surrey police crime website what was the crime rate like in Stoke Park?

Answer 25

Amount of crime: 6

Bicycle theft: x5
Other theft (theft by employee, blackmail and making off without payment: x1

Question 26

Using secondary data of the Surrey police crime website what was the crime rate like outside G-live (Dene road)?

Answer 26

Amount of crime: 13

Anti-social behaviour: x5
Violence and sexual offences: x1
Bicycle theft: x2
Vehicle theft: x1
Drugs: x3
Possession of weapons: x1

Question 27

Using secondary data of the Surrey police crime website what was the crime rate like un Guilford high street?

Answer 27

Amount: 17

Anti-social behaviour: x3
Bicycle theft: x2
Criminal damage and arson: x1
Other theft: x4
Public order (causing fear, alarm or distress): x2
Shop lifting: x3
Violence and sexual offences: x1

Question 28

What other form of secondary date did we use apart from crime rates and what was wrong with this?

Answer 28

We used census data to see what the housing, health and education (qualifications) were like in each area. However, the data was from 2011 which was 8 years ago so this information will have changed a lot since then and so these statistics that have helped us develop our conclusion may not be accurate.

Question 29

Conclusion on my bi-polar survey:

Answer 29

The graph shows which site has the best environmental quality. The site with the hugest score was one and the site with the lowest score was 2.
Mean score for site 1: 1.5
Mean score for site 2: 0.42
Mean score for site 3: 0.5
Reason why site 1 has the best score is because it has the lowest population so crime and litter rates would have been low given the area a higher score. This agrees with my hypothesis.

Question 30

Conclusion on my decibel readings:

Answer 30

Graph shows which site has the least noisy pollution and the best environmental quality. Site with the highest score was site 1 because it has the highest average and maximum reading. This could be an anomaly because due to our hypothesis site 1 should be the quietest. Our results could be working because we took them during rush hour and when we took them we stood by a road, which we did not do for the other sites.

Question 31

Conclusion on my Litter proportional circles:

Answer 31

The site with the most litter was site 3 with 95 pieces. Site 1 has the lowest with 60 pieces and site 2 has 80 pieces.
Range: 15
Mean: 78.3
Median: 87.5
This means the further out of Guilford town centre you go the less litter there is. Could suggest the quality of life is better in places like Stoke Park. Site 3 was the town centre and therefore the busiest due to work and leisure activities which is why it had the most litter.

Question 32

Why did you chose the location that you did in order to collect your urban field work?

Answer 32

I chose Stoke Park because this area represents the suburbs in a land use model as houses will be bigger with gardens suggesting people earn more and have higher salaries and therefore this means the quality of life here is better.
I chose around G-love because it is representative of an inner city and adjacent to the CBD. I would expect this area to have the lowest quality of life out of all 3 locations. However, Guilford as a while is a very rich borough so even G-live had a high quality of life.
Guilford town centre represented the CBD die to the leisure activities, shops, restaurants and businesses located here. The most economic activity happens here.

Question 33

why did we chose Guilford to investigate for our fieldwork?

Answer 33

• safe area of students to carry out heir fieldwork with as much independence as possible. No threats to their safety.
• local. Within a days journey there and back to the school.