Human Gathering Techniques Flashcards
1
Q
How do you conduct an interview?
A
- Do background research to understand the key areas you are aiming to investigate.
- Develop questions. Should be open and ambiguous to ensure as much detail is provided as possible by the interviewee. Structure questions so they link and build upon each other.
- Have supplementary questions prepared in case interviewees do not naturally discuss key points required.
2
Q
What are the advantages of interviews?
A
Advantages:
- Gathers very specific info as they involve participants engaged in the issue.
- Addition of supplementary info can be done to allow you to adapt.
3
Q
What are the disadvantages of interviews?
A
Disadvantages:
- Difficult to statistically analyse as they provide qualitative data.
- Time consuming to create and implement.
- Multiple groups must be consulted to ensure data is not biased.
4
Q
How do you conduct a perception study?
A
- Analyse how people perceive space:
- Create a mental map of an area (what points are focussed on or plotted accurately)
- Subjective distance (people think unfamiliar places are further away especially if they carry a negative connotation). - Analyse how people evaluate the environment:
- Hazard perception (flooding etc.)
- Crime
- Residential preference (why is this area their preferred area?)
- Landscape evaluation (ask people to score an area. Has a new build improved this score?). - Analyse how people make decisions:
- Discover why people make/made decisions (e.g. investigate why a new road was approved by the community).
5
Q
What are the advantages of a perception study?
A
Advantages:
- Often used alongside other techniques to provide a wider picture.
- A weighting can be added to certain categories to make results more representative.
6
Q
What are the disadvantages of a perception study?
A
Disadvantages:
- Results are based on judgement and thus subjective and can be influenced by many factors.
- Conclusions/results can be meaningless if not done correctly.
7
Q
How do you conduct an EQS?
A
- Decide categories to score.
- Decide locations to score and the sampling method used.
- Trial run in two contrasting areas and amend categories and scoring scales as needed.
- Decide on the investigators to conduct the EQS.
8
Q
What are the advantages of an EQS?
A
Advantages:
- Can cover a wide variety of factors giving data on many different factors.
- Provides quantitative data which can be compared or used for statistical analysis.
- Can be compared to published data to verify or add depth.
- Categories can be chosen depending on specific study, making this technique viable for a wide variety of topics.
- Weighting can be added to specific categories to make results more representative.
9
Q
What are the disadvantages of an EQS?
A
Disadvantages:
- Results are based on judgements making them subjective and can be influenced by misconceptions.
10
Q
How do you conduct a land use mapping?
A
- Decide where to survey.
- Create a classification key. Usually different colours per land use.
- Create a base map of the area, accurately separating buildings.
- Consider how to survey multi-storey buildings. Different maps or only survey the ground floor?
- Take photos of the location for future reference.
- Colour code buildings based on the key during fieldwork, or digitally after using photos and notes.
11
Q
What are the advantages of land use mapping?
A
Advantages:
- Shows a wide selection of data visually so trends and info are easy to see.
- Classification keys are detailed and can be split into type/age/style of building as well.
12
Q
What are the disadvantages of land use mapping?
A
Disadvantages:
- It can be hard to classify buildings from exterior alone making mistakes common.
- Buildings can house multiple businesses or land uses which is difficult to show on a single level map.
- Historical or secondary data is difficult to acquire or expensive to buy. GOAD maps are often costly, limiting the use of land use mapping to very current investigations as it is expensive to compare data from the past.
- Covers a large area requiring a large amount of time to collate.
- Accessibility can cause issues as some areas cannot be entered due to safety or private property, creating gaps in data.
13
Q
How do you conduct a traffic/pedestrian survey?
A
- Allocate sites using an appropriate sampling method.
- Consider which flow/direction to measure. Counting in both directions is best but difficult when busy.
- Consider the time period of the count.
- Consider how a group can increase accuracy of the count (one person counting, another recording etc.)
- Count as accurately as possible for the set time, avoiding parked or revisiting cars.
14
Q
What are the advantages of a traffic/pedestrian survey?
A
Advantages:
- Easy to carry out and requires little equipment.
- Although accurate analyse can be hard,
traffic data like this can be an important
indication in many investigations such as
population, transport issues, tourism etc.
15
Q
What are the disadvantages of a traffic/pedestrian survey?
A
Disadvantages:
- Many factors such as time and weather influence vehicle numbers so can be hard to analyse accurately.
- Safety has to be considered in busy areas.
- Often time consuming as counts must be repeated on multiple dates or areas.
