AQA AS Geography
Unit 2 – Geographical Fieldwork
Temburong
Name
Unit 2 – Geographical Skills



30% of AS,
1 hour exam
2 compulsory questions
o The context of question 1 will arise from either Rivers or Population.
o Question 2 will assess the geographical fieldwork that you undertake in Temburong.
It is very important that you work hard during the trip – the effort that you put in during the 3 days of
the trip will largely determine how well you do in the June exam.
Geographical Skills
There are 5 stages to Geographical enquiries in which you may be questioned on:
1. Identification of geographical questions (introduction)
2. Identification, selection and collection of quantitative and qualitative evidence from
primary and secondary sources (methods)
3. Processing & presentation (Data presentation)
4. Analysis and interpretation of evidence (Data analysis)
5. Drawing conclusions and evaluation (Conclusions and Evaluation)
1) Starting off – Designing a Hypothesis
Look at the box below with suggested titles for Geographical enquiries – discuss with the person next
to you whether the questions are feasible or not.
Title
Feasible
Not feasible
Comments
What factors influence
the characteristics of a
rainforest?
How do soils,
vegetation and land
use change across a
rainforest escarpment
(slope)?
Does Bangar fit the
Burgess model of land
use within a city?
To investigate changes
in river characteristics
along the long profile
of the Temburong
river.
The effects of tourism
at the Ulu Ulu resort in
Temburong.
Once a title (aim) has been decided, you must break the title down into an hypotheses (for Physical
investigations). These hypotheses will help you find an overall answer to the title.
Fieldwork Aim
Fieldwork Hypothesis
Geographical Understanding of Hypothesis
Bradshaw’s Model
What Geographical Understanding are you
basing your hypothesis on?
Location of Study Area:
Why is this a suitable river to investigate changing channel
characteristics downstream? What evidence is there from
the map?
Assess the extent to which this map is ‘fit for purpose.’
Risk assessment
You need to be able to carry out a risk assessment for any research you undertake –
outline the risks of carrying out research and suggest strategies for minimising risk.
Temburong - River
Hazard/Risk
Initial level
of risk
(L/M/H)
Control measures (strategy for reducing level
of risk)
Residual level
of risk (L/M/H)
2) Data Collection - Methods
There are two types of data:
a) Quantitative data – information can be expressed in numerical terms. Research involves
using statistics to analyse data (e.g. river width).
b) Qualitative data – difficult to measure, count or express in numerical terms (e.g. nature of
relationships among groups in society, impacts of tourism in a named area).
Researchers also often talk about data being subjective or objective.
 Subjective – influenced by personal opinion.
 Objective – undistorted by personal bias.
You should also know the difference between primary and secondary data:
a) Primary data:
Data that is collected and processed by individuals (e.g. questionnaires, raw census data,
maps with annotations).
b) Secondary data:
Data that is collected and processed by other people other than the researcher in question
(e.g. processed census data).
Once you have decided what type of data you need to collect, you need to decide on a sampling
strategy to use to ensure that your results are as accurate and reliable as possible.
Why do we need to take a sample when carrying out research?
Sampling:
Samples are ideally collected to be representative, but in practice they are often selected as a matter
of convenience.
a) Random sampling:
Every value, or member of the “population,” has an equal chance of being selected and the selection
of one member does not affect the probability of selection of another member. Random sample is
obtained using random numbers, usually generated on a computer.
Advantage
There is no bias in this sampling method.
Disadvantage
This is a time-consuming method and be beware
that a random sample may miss an entire part of
the survey area.
b) Systematic sampling:
Values are selected in a regular way (systematically).
E.g. Choosing every tenth person on a list or every 20th house in a street.
Advantage
This gives an even coverage of the area being
investigated.
Disadvantage
There is some bias in this sampling method (all
points do not have an equal chance of selection).
c) Stratified sampling:
This is based on knowing something in advance about the population or area in question. If it is
known that there are important groups in a population, it is possible to make sure that a
representative sample of them is included in a survey.
E.g. If you are surveying the attitudes of local people to the opening of a supermarket, your sample
must reflect the age distribution of local people.
Advantage
Sample is representative
Disadvantage
Comment on how you have chosen to sample your data
Outline and justify one method of data collection
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the method of
data collection
3 & 4. Data Presentation & Analysis
You must present data using appropriate methods – data must be presented visually and must show
all information clearly – it must be easy for the reader to pick out trends, patterns, anomalies in the
data.
Where appropriate, titles, scales and keys should be clearly marked on presentation.
Possible methods for presenting data:
 Sketch maps
 Proportional symbols
 Flow lines, desire lines, trip lines
 Chloropleths
 Isopleths
 Dot maps
Graphical skills  Line graphs
 Bar graphs
 Scattergraphs
 Pie charts
 Triangular graphs
 Kite diagrams
 Radial diagrams
 Logarithmic graphs
 Dispersion graphs
 Histogram
 Box and whisker plot
It may be appropriate to analyse data using statistical skills – some of these will help to support
your analysis
 Measures of central tendency – mean, median, mode
 Measures of dispersion – range, interquartile range, standard deviation
 Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient
Scatter Graphs & Spearmann’s rank correlation coefficient
Correlation is a method whereby a co-efficient is calculated to describe the degree of association
between two sets of paired data/values. This co-efficient is then tested to determine the probability
that the association might be due to chance.
A correlation is concerned with assessing links, association or relationships between two or more
phenomena. It looks at the strength of the relationship between two variables or two sets of data.
Give examples of variables that you could correlate together:-
Degree’s of correlation
Which variable to draw on which axis of the scatter graph?
Plot the INDEPENDENT variable on the horizontal axis
(termed the X axis) and the DEPENDENT variable on
the vertical axis (Y axis).
One variable usually has an effect on the other and this should enable you to identify the
independent and dependent variables.
Example:- temperature decreases as you go up the mountain. Height above sea level is the
independent variable but the variable that changes is temperature so that is the dependent variable.
Is a visual link precise enough?
Not really because it is far too subjective. Vague statements like “The scattergraph seems to me to
indicate a weak positive correlation…” are too imprecise. Applying the Spearman Rank Statistical Test
means you can QUANTIFY the strength of the relationship that your scattergraph reveals. It is more
objective and therefore acceptable to science.
How to undertake a Spearman Rank Correlation Statistical
Test – a worked example!
In this worked example, the two
variables we wish to examine are
slope angle and soil depth. Our
classroom studies have led us to
believe that gravity will remove soil
from steeper slopes and it will collect
at the base of the slope where depths
are likely to be higher
1. Formulate the null hypothesis
‘That there is no relationship
between soil depth and slope
angle’
2.
Examine your data and decide if
you think that when slope angles
are low then soil depth seems to
be high.
Are the shallowest soils on the
steepest parts of the slope?
Location of sample sites
Slope angle
(in degrees)
Soil depth
(in cms)
1
0
103
2
1.5
80
3
2
30
4
5
15
5
10
5
6
8
8
7
6
9
8
4
14
9
2.5
25
10
1
50
3.
As slope angle increases, soil depth decreases. Therefore this is a negative correlation because
if one variable is high the other is low and vice versa.
4.
Now rank the first set of data - Highest to lowest i.e. 10 degrees gets given the rank of one, 8
degrees gets the rank of two etc
Slope
Rank
1
0
10
2
1.5
8
3
2
7
4
5
4
5
10
1
6
8
2
7
6
3
8
4
5
9
2.5
6
10
1
9
5. Now rank the second set of data. Highest to lowest, same as before. (One could rank lowest to
highest as long as it is the same for both sets of data). BEWARE:- In this particular example there
are no numbers the same in the soil column nor the slope one but if you see this then be alert as
awarding the rank needs careful handling!
Made-up example of what to do about tied ranks
The first 27.5 in the list has absolutely no “right” to be assigned rank 2 whereas the second 27.5
only gets rank 3. They occupy ranks 2 and 3 so add up and divide by 2 = 2.5 each.
29.4
1
27.5
2.5
23.0
5
27.5
2.5
23.8
4
6. Having already ranked slope angle, you now need to rank soil depth
Soil
depth
(in cms)
Rank
103
1
80
2
30
4
15
6
5
10
8
9
9
8
14
7
25
5
50
3
7. Your table should now look like this
Slope
Rank
Soil
Rank
1
0
10
103
1
2
1.5
8
80
2
3
2
7
30
4
4
5
4
15
6
5
10
1
5
10
6
8
2
8
9
7
6
3
9
8
8
4
5
14
7
9
2.5
6
25
5
10
1
9
50
3
8. Next step…Calculate the difference between the ranks. Take no notice of the sign as the next step
is to square the difference in the final column
Slope
Rank
Soil depth
Rank
d
d²
0
10
103
1
9
81
1.5
8
80
2
6
36
2
7
30
4
3
9
5
4
15
6
2
4
10
1
5
10
9
81
8
2
8
9
7
49
6
3
9
8
5
25
4
5
14
7
2
4
2.5
6
25
5
1
1
1
9
50
3
6
36
d = difference between ranks
d² = difference squared
9. Now add up all the figures in the d². This gives you the sum of d² or SIGMA squared expressed as:-
In this example sum of d² = 326
10. Apply the Spearman Rank formula
11. Rs =
1 - (6 x 326)
(10³ - 10)
= 1 – 1956
990
= 1 – 1.9758
Rs = - 0.9758
BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
We were expecting a negative correlation so our negative number is reassuring!
How sure can you be that the results you collected on the day that you went out could not have
occurred by chance? Might it all have been “just one of those things”….“a fluke” ….. “a chance
occurrence”?
The nearer the Rs answer is to plus 1.0 or minus 1.0 the stronger is the degree of
correlation. Our answer of -0.98 indicates a very strong negative correlation. We need to state how
significant this result is by using a critical values table or graph.
12. Degrees of freedom (df)
This is n-2 so in our example it is 10-2 = 8. Consult a graph or a table to find out the critical value.Our
answer of minus 0.97 is only significant if the critical value is lower than this.
8
0.549 0.632 0.716
0.765
 99% Confidence
Because our Rs answer of – 0.97 is bigger than the critical value of 0.765, we can be very confident
that chance did not play a part in these results. There really is a significant relationship between
slope angle and soil depth. We can have great confidence in our results because on only one
occasion in a 100 could the outcome have been due to chance factors.
 Reject the null hypothesis
We can reject the null hypothesis with 99% confidence and accept the alternative hypothesis which is
that:“there is a significant negative relationship between slope angle and soil depth. As slope
angle increases, soil depth decreases”
Geographers can only accept greater than 95%
confidence (99% for physical Geography)
Now it’s your turn!
Sketch of your Scatter Graph
Spearmann’s Rank correlation coefficient
Describe one technique you used to present data in this
enquiry and outline the advantages and disadvantages of it
Outline and justify the use of one or more techniques used
to statistically analyse your results
5) Drawing conclusions and evaluation






Summarise the results to answer the original question/hypothesis
Support the summary with reference to evidence from earlier sections
Explain results in the light of theories/concepts and location
Identify limitations of methods and impacts on results - suggest improvements/extension
Explain possible effect of limitations on results
Examiner should be able to read conclusion and know what your study was about and what
you found out
Geographical Information Systems
What is this? – the most powerful set of tools in existence for the analysis and visualisation of spatial
information.
You must be able to use GIS in your investigation.
How might you go about using GIS in your investigation?
Summarise your findings and suggest how this enquiry
could be improved
Comment on the strengths and weaknesses of different
aspects of the study and suggest improvements
In what ways would your conclusions be of use to other
people?
Possible question alternatives.
Starting point
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Methods
Skills
Interpretation
Conclusions/Evaluation
What are the
advantages and
disadvantages of
the analysis
technique(s) that
you used?
Outline and
justify the use of
one or more
techniques used
to statistically
analyse your
results
Name one
technique of data
analysis and
describe how it
was used
How far did your fieldwork
conclusions match the
geographical theory,
concept or idea on which
your study was based
Outline the aim
and describe the
theory, idea or
concept from
which your aim
was derived
Explain the
geographical
concept, process
or theory that
underpinned
your enquiry
Outline and
justify one
method of data
collection that
you used
Describe one
method used to
present your data
Examine the
limitations of
your chosen
methodology
Describe one
application of ICT
skills in carrying
out your fieldwork
and comment on
its usefulness
Outline one
source of
information that
you used and
assess the
extent to which
it was “fit for
purpose”
Explain how you
devised your
aim and how
you responded
to the risks
associated with
your chosen site
for fieldwork
Describe the
location of your
fieldwork and
explain why it
was suitable for
your
investigation
Describe the
purpose of your
fieldwork
enquiry
Outline one
hypothesis and
describe one
methodology for
primary data
collection in
relation to this
Describe and
illustrate one
technique you
used to present
data in this
enquiry
How did you
respond to risks
associated with
undertaking
primary data
collection
What difficulties
did you face when
presenting your
results?
What is meant by
the term
‘significance’ in
the analysis of
fieldwork data?
In what ways would your
conclusions be of use to
other people?
Discuss the
strengths and
weaknesses of
the method of
data collection
Describe a method
of presentation
that you used in
your investigation
and indicate how
the chosen
method was useful
Outline one
technique that you
have used to
present results
from your data
collection
In the context of
the analysis of
fieldwork data,
outline the
meaning of
‘anomalies’.
Drawing upon your
findings, explain how your
enquiry improved your
understanding of the topic
area
Describe one
method you used
to present data
collected in your
fieldwork
investigation
Comment on the strengths
and weaknesses of
different aspects of the
study and suggest
improvements
With the aid of a
diagram, describe
one technique that
you used to
present data in
your enquiry
Explain how the
use of ICT can
improve
geographical
understanding
Summarise the main
findings of your
investigation
With reference
to fieldwork
investigations
distinguish
between
qualitative and
quantitative
data
Describe the
characteristic
features of your
study area
Comment on the
strengths and
weaknesses of
different aspects
of the study.
Suggest
improvements.
In the box
provided, draw
and annotated
sketch map of the
location of the
study area to
show the basic
characteristics
Summarise your findings
and suggest how this
enquiry could be improved
Making specific reference
to your results, suggest
how your enquiry could be
improved