Coastal Landscape Skills (AQA A Level Geography)

Coastal Landscape Skills

• It is important to be confident with a mixture of numerical quantitative skills and qualitative written communication skills 

• Many of the skills are already outlined elsewhere in the revision notes

Quantitative: Chi-Squared Test

• A Chi-squared test is used to test objectively whether connections between variables are due to chance or whether the variables depend on one another

• The result comes from comparing the observed data that has been measured with the expected data if the variable was randomly distributed 

• As with all statistical techniques a hypothesis and null hypothesis are established 

  • A hypothesis cannot be categorically proved, it can be accepted or rejected based on confidence levels 

• The chi-squared equation:
  

• The process therefore has four steps:

  • State the null hypothesis: there is no significant association between ___ and __

  • Calculate the chi-squared figure using the equation 

  • Test the significance of the result with a confidence level of 95% or 99%

  • Define the degrees of freedom (df) to use

Example: 

An investigation into sediment size along the beach 

Hypothesis: Sediment size increases further along the beach 

Null Hypothesis: There is no significant variation in sediment size along the beach 

To calculate E, expected value, calculate the average (mean) for O and put the figure into the E column. 

• A chi square value on its own doesn’t mean very much, it has to be tested against critical values from a published critical values table at a confidence level of 95% or 99% 

  • This means that there is a 95% or 99% chance that the connection did not happen by chance

• The degrees of freedom is worked out very simply by taking ‘n’, the number of rows minus 1 

  • In the example the degrees of freedom value is 5-1 = 4 

• Looking at the critical values table below it is clear that the null hypothesis can be rejected at both a confidence level of 95% and 99%

• This worked example therefore shows that there is a significant variation in sediment size along the beach 

Qualitative: Evaluative skills 

• You are asked to assess the impacts or causes of a range of factors in this unit 

• When deciding if something is significant consider four things: 

  • Time - how long will it take for a strategy or impact to take effect?

  • Scale - how many people will be affected?  

  • Cost - What will the cost be? 

    • It is important to remember that just because something is expensive that doesn’t mean it is the worst option 

    • Rather than considering whether something is expensive or cheap, think about whether it is worth the cost because of the benefits it will create 

  • Ethics - Does the strategy ensure dignity for local people and other stakeholders? 

• This will allow for a well-rounded and substantiated argument in 9 mark and 20 mark questions

Qualitative: Photo Analysis

• This is an important observational skill 

• Look at the features of the foreground, midground and background

• Think about what has not been included in the picture, what might be just out of frame?

• How do these features relate to the area studied