Geography fieldwork enquiry 12/04/2024
Aim
To understand human and physical geography fieldwork
What fieldwork
• Human and physical geography fieldwork
Human geography study
• Example…
• How close does town XXXX fit the core frame
model?
What is the CBD?
What are its characteristics?
• Central Business District
• Characterised by - Offices, retail, multi-storey
development, pedestrianisation, low residential
population, entertainment, little or no manufacturing
The Core Frame Model
Justification – who would be
interested in this study?
• XXXX Council – want to know where the busiest
areas are in order to charge appropriate rates –
maximise revenue.
• They also need to target services.
• Business owners – where are the most popular
places and how much it will cost to locate there.
• Local residents – may want to know what services
are available – shops, transport, leisure etc.
Key terms:
• CBD
• PLVI
• Core/Frame
• Pedestrianisation
• Low order/high order goods
• Comparison or convenience goods
What is the PLVI?
• Peak Land Value Intersection – the coriest part of the
core!
• The area in a CBD which has the highest land value.
• It is a point – one place, not an area.
Physical fieldwork
• Coastal or river study
Coasts
• Study processes and human effects
• Example aim:
• ‘To investigate the impact of management on
the natural processes operating at XXXX.’
How?
• Measure beach angles with a clinometer and
ranging poles and sample sediment on a
transect
Risk management
• 3 stages:
1. Risk identification prior to visit.
2. Identifying management strategies.
3. Ongoing assessment throughout visit or
fieldwork.
Be prepared to state how effective your
strategies were (i.e. nobody died or were
hospitalised).
Risk assessment
• What are the risks of operating here?
• Cliffs
• Sea/tides
• Roads
• Weather
Background to study
• You will need to justify why your choice of study is
important geographically.
• You will need to discuss the natural processes
operating here – longshore drift, beach morphology,
cliff erosion. This could be done through a brief
discussion/description of the study site
• You will need to show why your study area is
appropriate for your chosen investigation. Ease of
accessibility, managed/unmanaged beach close
together, achievability, risk assessed environment etc.
Methodology
• You will need to describe the methods of primary
data collection used e.g. measuring beach profile with
a clinometer. Use a table like the one below:
• Secondary data should also be mentioned – e.g. how
OS maps were used to select the two locations.
• You should show an awareness of sampling issues
(random, stratified, systematic).
• You should include a risk assessment for your study
Data Presentation
What is required?
• 7 methods total
• 5 Basic
• 1 complex method needed to enter L3
• 2 complex methods needed for top of L3
Basic Methods
• Maps
• Photographs
• Line graphs
• Pie charts
• Bar graphs
• Pictograms
Complex Methods
• Scattergraphs with best fit line – MS Excel is best for
this.
• Isoline diagrams – hand drawn is best.
• Proportional symbol maps – either computer or hand
drawn.
• Well labelled maps and photographs – e.g. a land use
transect map with explanatory labels and illustrative
photographs.
• Located pie charts. Eg High order/low order goods in
each sector
Isoline maps
Isoline maps
• For pedestrian counts
• This will be a hand drawn map.
• Look at the values on the map.
• Find the highest and lowest and choose appropriate
divisions to give a good map – e.g. a line every 10
units.
• Try to draw lines that follows the data – e.g. if the
line has a value of 10 it should be nearer a raw data
point of 11 than a data point of [Link] is called
interpolation.
• Practice task to be set.
Proportional symbol maps
• Proportional circles are shown by r= v
• V = the value you want the total circle to show, r = the radius
of the pie chart and = 3.142.
• Calculate the radius for each of your data values.
• This radius must be able to show small and large numbers
sensibly so it may be that you have to further reduce the scale
by dividing by two for example.
• Would suit shopping quality and environmental quality data.
• Symbols must be located in the right area to show the data.
• Don’t forget a key and a scale.
Land use transect
• This could be a very powerful piece of
presentation – it could combine the map with
photos, and annotations.
• Do you need to plot all land uses for your
project? You may choose to only plot core
functions e.g. Comparison categories and
frame functions e.g. convenience categories or
empty shops.
Remember….
• Techniques can be combined – e.g. proportional
symbol map with annotations and photographs.
• All methods need titles, scales, North arrows, labelled
axes.
• Proportional symbols must be accurate.
• Complex methods can be hand drawn.
Data Presentation
• Land use transect – you can put another
data presentation method on this for
example photographs or proportional
circles on tracing paper overlay.
• Proportional Circles – EQA, pedestrian
count, SQ.
• Isoline Map for pedestrian counts.
How to analyse data
This is HIGH Control….
• Phones (switched off) to be handed in at start
of each session.
• No talking - these are exam conditions.
• Teachers may only offer guidance on structure
of project NOT content – so don’t ask!
Know your title…..
• You need to remember throughout what it is you are
actually investigating.
• ‘How does Bromley fit the core and frame model?’
• Your analysis must be leading to the relevant
conclusion for your title.
• Make sure you are using the key terminology you
identified in the introduction throughout.
For basic marks….
• For basic marks - For each hypothesis, identify which
graphs/maps or charts you are referring to and describe what
trends they show.
E.g. ‘The highest pedestrian count was 230 at x in Sector y and
decreased with distance form this point. In the outer sectors
they were much lower’
• You should also seek to explain these trends.
E.g.’ The highest numbers were found at x because…..’
• You also need to identify and explain any anomalous results
(that don’t fit the pattern)
E.g. The high cluster of pedestrian numbers in sector 5 seen by
Mr Snell’s group can be explained by the presence of a large
bus stop with frequent services.
For higher marks…..
• You need to do two things:
1. Manipulate data wherever possible – don’t just say that
Shopping quality was 5 in zone 1 and 10 in zone 3. Say that
it was twice as high or increased by 100%.
2. Make links between data sets wherever possible. It is easy to
do this in your project – identifying the core or the PLVI
requires you to ‘overlap’ data to show where it is –
scattergraphs of EQ and SQ for example. If discussing why
land use changes on your transect map for example, refer to
pedestrian numbers to explain why lower quality shops are
found in the frame.
To summarise…..
• Analysis should….
1. Identify and explain trends and anomalies.
2. Manipulate data to show relative changes.
3. Make links between data sets to support your analysis.
4. Refer to 4 key terms/concepts throughout
Spelling
• Anomaly • Positive
• Anomalous • Correlation
• Anomalies • Storeys
• Pedestrian
• Environmental
• Convenience
• Businesses
How to conclude….
Be concise….
• You must address the overall aim of your
investigation.
• Your analysis should have led up to this point
by looking at all the data.
• The conclusion is where you tie it all together
and answer the question e.g. ‘How closely
does XXXX’s CBD fit the core and frame
model?’
Don’t repeat yourself….
• You should not be introducing new data or
analysis in this section.
• It is a summary of your findings which
addresses the key question.
• Use Key terms at all times!!
I have shown that the sector with the highest pedestrian count, best
environmental and shopping quality scores and the one with the
most comparison shops is Sector x. I have identified this as the
sector which contains the PLVI. Sector y also has high values in
these categories and so it is appears that sectors x and y could be
considered the core. As I moved away from sectors x and y it was
noticeable that environmental and shopping quality declined and
that pedestrian numbers also generally decreased. The type of shops
also changed from Department Stores and specialist shops selling
comparison goods in sectors x and y to more shops selling
convenience goods in sectors a, b, c and d. There were also many
more vacant shops in these areas. It is likely that sectors a, b, c, and
d correspond to the frame. The presence of the Town Hall and
transport links like bus stops and train stations in these sectors also
supports this. I feel I have answered the question ‘how closely does
Bromley fit the core and frame model?’ Generally Bromley is a
good fit and shows clear delineation between the core and frame as
discussed.
How to evaluate…..
Be critical……
• This section tests your awareness of problems in your
investigation (specifically the methods you used) and
your understanding of how they may have influenced
your results and therefore your conclusion.
• Other impacts can also be mentioned e.g. time, date
and weather. These may have affected quality of
results.
• The idea is to identify a method you used, say what
was wrong with it, suggest how it may have
influenced your results and then state whether your
conclusion was affected.
• You need to address whether your overall findings are
good enough to still accept your overall conclusion.
• You need to suggest improvements to the method as
well as suggesting one or two ideas to expand the
study.
• You can also criticise the actual aim of the
investigation. We have all assumed the Core and
Frame model is an accurate representation of the truth
about CBDs.
Criticising a method - example
• Shopping or environmental quality:
The problem with these methods is that they are subjective
tests and therefore the results are my own opinion and others
may not agree with them. I may have scored an area better or
worse than others on the basis of my own personal preference.
I may find traffic noise or litter more annoying than someone
else.
This means my results could be questioned and so therefore
must my conclusion.
However I have used the same method for all sectors so these
results do show a trend and therefore I do think my conclusion
is still valid.
I could have used an average of several people’s results to
make it more representative and less subject to bias.
Accurate, Reliable, Valid
• Accurate - The accuracy of a measurement is
how close a result comes to the true value
• Validity refers to how well a test measures
what it is supposed to measure
• Reliability is the degree to which an
assessment tool produces stable and consistent
results
Evaluation summary….
Start with an overview statement of where the study went well:
[Link] a method
[Link] how it affected your results
[Link] whether your conclusion was affected.
[Link] improvements to methods.
Do this for at least two methods.
[Link] whether overall conclusion is still acceptable.
[Link] one or two ideas for further study.