Fieldwork » Planning a Geographical Enquiry

The fieldwork requirement

Fieldwork means learning geography by going out and seeing it for real. It is an essential part of the course because it lets you relate what you learn to real experiences of the world.

AQA sets clear rules for it:

• You must undertake two geographical enquiries.
• Each enquiry must use primary data that you collect yourself during fieldwork.
• Fieldwork must take place outside the classroom and school grounds on at least two occasions.
• The enquiries must be carried out in contrasting environments.
• Between them, they must show an understanding of both physical and human geography.
• In at least one enquiry, you must show an understanding of the interaction between physical and human geography.

Each enquiry should link clearly to the subject content. It can be based on any part of the physical or human topics you have studied in this course.

Key terms:

• Fieldwork: collecting geographical information in the real world, outside the classroom.
• Geographical enquiry: an investigation that follows a series of steps, from asking a question to evaluating the result.
• Contrasting environments: two places that are clearly different, for example one natural and one built up.

How it is assessed

Your understanding of the enquiry process is tested in two ways.

You are expected to apply your knowledge to interpret, analyse and evaluate information. You must also select, adapt and use a variety of skills and techniques to investigate questions and communicate findings.

Your school also has a job to do. It must submit a written statement as evidence that the fieldwork took place. It records the date, the location, the number of students taking part, the main questions investigated and the part of the specification the fieldwork is linked to. The Head of Centre signs it.

The six enquiry strands

Every enquiry follows the same six strands:

1. Suitable question for geographical enquiry
2. Selecting, measuring and recording data
3. Selecting appropriate ways of processing and presenting fieldwork data
4. Describing, analysing and explaining fieldwork data
5. Reaching conclusions
6. Evaluation of geographical enquiry

This lesson covers strand 1: planning. The later strands are taught in the next two lessons.

Strand 1: a suitable question or hypothesis

An enquiry starts with a question or a hypothesis. A good one is focused, can be answered with data you can collect in the time you have, and links to the course content.

Key terms:

• Enquiry question: a question the fieldwork will try to answer.
• Hypothesis: a statement that can be tested, which your data will either support or not support.

A human geography example is the hypothesis "The number of pedestrians falls as distance from the town centre increases." It names two things you can measure and a clear pattern to test.

The theory or concept behind the enquiry

Good enquiries are not random. They test an idea from geography, called the underpinning theory or concept. Your hypothesis should come from it.

• The Bradshaw model says that river width, depth and discharge generally increase downstream. This gives you the idea behind the stream width hypothesis above.
• The idea that land in the centre of a town is the most valuable gives you a reason to expect busier pavements and more shops there.

When you plan, always be able to say: "I expect this because the theory says..."

Sources and locations

You need to choose appropriate sources of evidence, and the places where you will collect it.

Key terms:

• Primary data: data you collect yourself, first hand, in the field.
• Secondary data: data collected by someone else, such as census figures, maps, websites or published reports.

Secondary data is often useful to give background and to compare with what you find. Your enquiry must still use primary data.

The location must suit the question. To test how width changes downstream, you need a stream you can safely reach at several points along its length. Choosing the right locations also helps your results to be fair and useful.

Risks and how to reduce them

Fieldwork can be dangerous, so you must think about the potential risks of both human and physical fieldwork before you go. Then you plan how to reduce each one.

Key terms:

• Risk: the chance that something harmful could happen.
• Risk assessment: a plan that lists the risks of an activity and how each one will be reduced.

Other common risks include bad weather, getting lost, and sun or cold exposure. The ways to reduce them are usually simple: planning, supervision and the right clothing.

Exam-style question

A student plans a fieldwork enquiry into how the width of a stream changes with distance downstream.

(a) Write a suitable hypothesis for this enquiry. [1 mark]

(b) Give one example of primary data and one example of secondary data the student could use. [2 marks]

(c) Describe one risk of carrying out this fieldwork and explain how it could be reduced. [2 marks]