Geographical enquiry - Part 1

Geographical enquiries can involve researching the human and physical environments. They are a way of investigating questions about the world we live in and learn how processes work.

There are six steps to follow in a geographical enquiry.

1. Planning
2. Fieldwork
3. Processing and presenting data
4. Analysing and interpreting data
5. Conclusion
6. Evaluation

The first thing to do is to decide what to study. Enquiries can be about both the physical and the human environments. The physical environment may include studying rivers, coasts, sand dunes and mountains. The human environment can include investigating more urban locations in towns or cities.

Then choose a question to ask about what you have chosen to study. Or think of a hypothesis - a prediction that can be tested to see whether it is true or not.

For an enquiry about traffic the question could be, ‘Does the time of day affect the type, amount and direction of traffic on a main road?’

This question could be broken down further into sub-questions.

• What types of traffic use the main road?
• How many vehicles pass by in a set time?
• How does the direction of traffic compare at different times in the day?

For an investigation of a river the question could be, ‘How does a river change as it moves downstream?’

The question could be broken down further into sub-questions.

• Does the velocity of a river change along its course?
• What happens to the width and depth of the river as you go downstream?
• Does the size and shape of pebbles change along the course of a river?

You could choose a hypothesis to test whether it is true or not.

For an investigation into the amount of traffic travelling along a main road, the hypothesis could be, ‘I think there will be more traffic driving towards the city centre during the morning rush hour’.

In an investigation of a river, the hypothesis could be, ‘I think that as I travel downstream, the river will become wider and deeper’.

Once an enquiry question has been chosen it is important to find a suitable, accessible location to carry out the investigation. Careful consideration needs to be given to choosing the best location and time.

For a traffic enquiry looking at a main road going in and out of a city centre, questions to consider when choosing a location could include the following.

• Where is the safest place to stand to collect the data?
• Can all of the traffic be seen from this location?
• Is the location accessible?

When carrying out a river study, select sites where the river is safe to access.

Look at the weather forecast and decide whether it is safe to carry out your data collection.

In a risk assessment, you identify possible hazards and figure out whether they're likely to cause damage or harm.

A risk assessment must be completed before starting any investigation. It is necessary to consider all the challenges and dangers, such as:

• where is a safe location to stand to collect the data?
• what will the weather be like on the day of the data collection?
• will you be working alone or as part of a group?
• what will happen if someone falls over and hurts themselves?

Data is the information collected for the enquiry. The data must answer the question that you have asked.

It is important to consider how to collect the data. In a traffic enquiry you might record the number of cars, lorries, buses, motorbikes, bikes and pedestrians that pass during a 30 minute period.

Data should be reliable. This means that the data gathered must be accurate so when conducting a traffic enquiry you need to consider:

• how can data be collected free from errors?
• will results be accurate if you try and count traffic going in both directions?
• can data be collected with a partner to make it more accurate?

Data that is original and collected first-hand is called primary data. For example a tally chart of the amount of traffic you observe travelling along a main road or measurements you make of a river’s width and depth.

Data that has been previously collected by someone else and made available is called secondary data. For example, data in a book, census data or data from a reliable website.

It is important when collecting data to get a balance between both primary and secondary data.

The data that is collected can be quantitative or qualitative.

Quantitative data is an amount or value and is expressed in numbers, eg the velocity of a river, the number of cars or the amount of litter in a particular location. This can be collected using methods such as environmental surveys, tally charts or by measuring.

Quantitative data can be quick to collect, good for representing in a graph and easy to compare. However, this data often does not provide enough depth on its own so it is useful to use both quantitative and qualitative data together to get a good balance.

Qualitative data is expressed as pictures, words and descriptions. It can be collected in different ways, eg by interviewing a person about their personal viewpoints, collecting questionnaires, drawing sketches or taking photographs. This information is much more descriptive and can give greater insight into the environment or community. This type of data is very informative, but it can be more difficult to represent in a graph.

The main purpose of fieldwork is collecting primary data - any information that you collect yourself, on-site. There are several things to consider when doing this.

The sampling technique should be chosen carefully because it helps to remove bias, which is when one result or answer is encouraged over others. If data is gathered without justifying the sampling method used, it may be regarded as being unreliable and the results of the enquiry may be considered unfair or inaccurate.

There are three main types of sampling.

• Systematic sampling – collecting data in order and at regular intervals, eg every fifth house, or every one mile along a river.
• Random sampling – choosing a location or person to collect data from at random.
• Stratified sampling – dividing sampling into groups, eg choosing three locations for collecting data along a road or river in advance.

When collecting data for an investigation, it is important to consider how the data is collected.

For human investigations both qualitative and quantitative methods are used.

Quantitative data collection methods include:

• pedestrian flows
• tally charts
• environmental surveys
• land use surveys

When collecting quantitative data, for example in a traffic enquiry, a data collection sheet can be used.

Special data collection methods may be used depending on the location and the focus of the enquiry. If completing a river investigation you could measure the:

• cross-sections
• wetted perimeter
• width and depth of the river
• velocity
• pebble shape and size
• gradient

Methods for collecting qualitative data include:

• questionnaires, which are a written or printed questions with a choice of answers
• interviews, when people are asked about their opinions face-to-face
• emotion mapping, which records the researcher’s feelings about locations, eg giving a score expressing how safe they feel in different places

It is important to consider what equipment is needed to complete the enquiry so that you have everything you need for the investigation. The equipment needed will depend on the nature of the investigation.

For example, for the traffic enquiry only a clipboard, data collection sheet, pencil and rubber are needed to record the data.

But for a river study the list of equipment would be longer because items such as ranging poles, tape measure, metre ruler, flow metre and stopwatch would also needed.

Whatever the investigation, check the weather forecast beforehand so that you are dressed appropriately.

You can learn about the next four steps in a geographical enquiry in Geographical enquiry – Part 2