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Rural Fieldwork » Rural Fieldwork Enquiry

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Edexcel spec: 2.4

How to use an EQS, a structured questionnaire and a landscape or building assessment survey in a rural area
How to use annotated photographs and stakeholder interviews to show rural change
How to use a report on change in a local rural community, and historic maps and images
How to apply all this to unfamiliar rural data in the exam

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The rural enquiry in Section B

If your Paper 2 Section B topic is Rural environments, your enquiry is investigating the changing use of rural environments through primary and secondary evidence. For example, a class might study a village where farm buildings have become homes, or where a new housing estate has been built on the edge. As in the other fieldwork lessons, you need quantitative and qualitative primary data, and at least two different secondary sources. The theory of rural change is in the Rural Environments lessons. This lesson is about collecting and using the evidence.

Some methods are the same as in the Energy Use Fieldwork Enquiry lesson, so this lesson only shows how they fit a rural place.

Key terms:

Rural community: the people who live and work in a village or the countryside around it.
Building assessment survey: recording the condition and use of buildings, such as whether each one is lived in, empty, used for farming or used for a business.

Primary quantitative data

The spec suggests two quantitative methods: (1) an environmental quality survey (EQS) and a structured questionnaire, and (2) a landscape or building assessment survey.

📊 EQS and questionnaire

Use a small-scale EQS as in the Energy Use Fieldwork Enquiry lesson, at points such as the village centre, a new housing estate and a lane by the fields. Add a structured questionnaire with closed questions, such as: "Has the village changed for the better, for the worse, or not at all?"

🏡 Landscape or building survey

For a landscape survey, judge a view against set questions, such as how much of it is farmland and how much is new building. For a building survey, walk a set route and record each building's use and condition on a tally sheet. Use the same categories for every building.

Worked example

In the village of Marlby, a student surveys 50 buildings on the main street. 12 are working farm buildings, 25 are homes lived in all year, 8 are holiday homes and 5 are empty.

8 ÷ 50 × 100 = 16% are holiday homes. The student can compare this with an older report to see if the share is growing.

Primary qualitative data

Annotated photographs showing evidence of changing rural environments, such as a barn turned into houses, a new housing estate next to old farmland, or a farm shop with a car park. Add labels that describe what you see and explain what it shows about change.
Interviews with different stakeholders, such as a farmer, a long-term resident, a newcomer who commutes to a city, a parish councillor or a shop owner. Their views can be very different.

Qualitative data gives the reasons behind your numbers. A questionnaire might show that 60% think the village has got worse, but an interview with a resident may explain it is because the bus service has stopped.

Secondary data for a rural enquiry

The spec suggests two secondary sources.

📄 A report on local change

A paper or digital report into an aspect of change in a rural area and community. It might cover how the number of people, homes or jobs in the community has changed.

🗺 Historic maps and images

Local data on landscape change from development. Compare an old map or photograph with a modern one to see where fields have been built on, where new roads run, or which farm buildings have gone.

You can check your own findings against these sources. If the report says the community has got larger but your building survey finds many empty homes, think about why.

What the data may show

Your results should help you answer your enquiry question. Look for patterns, such as whether EQS scores are higher further from new building, or whether longer-term residents are more likely than newcomers to say the village has got worse. Then back up your points with figures and with quotes from your interviews.

How reliable are the results?

Judge your data before you trust it. Results can be misleading if:

you surveyed only one point, or asked only one group of people
the sample was small, so a few odd answers change the pattern
the survey categories changed part way through
a historic map is very old or covers only part of the area, so it may not show the full change

Remember that stakeholders, such as a farmer or a newcomer, can hold strongly different views, so one interview is not enough.

Unfamiliar fieldwork in the exam

An unfamiliar question gives you new data about a rural environment, collected with methods like these. You should be able to:

describe a pattern in survey results using figures
explain the pattern, and say why stakeholders might disagree
say how a method works and what makes a result unreliable
say how a source such as a historic map would help

Common mistakes

Changing the survey categories halfway through. Use the same ones for every building and every point.
Surveying one point only. A single score cannot show a pattern.
Asking only people from one group. A farmer, a newcomer and a resident can all think differently.
Using only one secondary source. The spec needs at least two.
Photographs with no labels. An annotated photograph needs notes that explain what it shows.
Writing "there were more homes" with no figures. Quote the numbers.

Exam-style question

A student studied a village and surveyed 40 buildings on the main road.

Building use	Number of buildings
Home lived in all year	22
Holiday home	10
Farm or business	6
Empty	2

(a) Calculate the percentage of buildings that are holiday homes. [1 mark]

(b) Give one advantage of a landscape or building survey. [1 mark]

(d) Suggest one reason why a long-term resident and a farmer might give different views in interviews. [2 marks]

Model answer

(a) 10 ÷ 40 × 100 = 25% (1).

(b) Each building is recorded the same way, so the results can be counted and compared (1).

(c) They show what the land looked like in the past (1), so the student can see where fields have been built on or farm buildings have changed (1).

(d) The farmer may earn money from selling land or opening a farm shop (1), but the resident may dislike the extra traffic and loss of open fields (1).

Exam tip

In (a), write the sum 10 ÷ 40 × 100 before the answer, and add the % sign.

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