Methods of Evaluating Views of Rural Areas (Edexcel A Level Geography)
Revision Note
Use of Statistical Evidence
Places are represented in a huge range of qualitative and quantitative ways
Quantitative data includes census data, crime rates, house prices, demographic data like population pyramids and economic data (usually found on a council website)
Qualitative data includes songs, novels, poetry, paintings, photographs and films
The use of statistics can help determine whether people have a positive or negative image of their living spaces
Quantitative data
Census data about population growth and decline, age categories, ethnicity and health
This can help determine how the population structure is changing and what impacts it might be having on the place
The Labour Force Survey to determine the average income in an area, the types of work carried out by local people, and whether they are full-time or part-time
This can help identify the types of lifestyles people in rural and urban areas might enjoy
Index of multiple deprivatioin (IMD) data to identify small areas that are deprived
The IMD is divided into seven deprivation categories (e.g. housing access and health), which can support the analysis of people’s perceptions
Level of Deprivation for Lerwick (2020)
Type of deprivation | Lerwick (Decile rank) |
|---|---|
Education | 7 |
Health | 5 |
Crime | 2 |
Housing access | 3 |
Income | 6 |
Employment | 6 |
Deciles divide the ranked areas into 10 equal groups - the most deprived (1) to the least deprived (10)
Lerwick has:
Relatively low levels of deprivation for education
High levels of crime - at least 80% of other places in Scotland experience less crime than Lerwick
Poor levels of access to housing
The National Well-being Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), measures the well-being of people living in the UK by assessing their life satisfaction, happiness, anxiety, and feeling that the things they do in life are worthwhile
The results can be viewed at a local level e.g. Shetland and Liverpool
Personal well-being for Liverpool and Shetland (2022-2023)
Personal well-being measure (out of 10) | Liverpool | Shetland |
|---|---|---|
Life satisfaction | 7.1 | 7.9 |
Worthwhile | 7.6 | 8 |
Happiness | 7.3 | 8.2 |
Anxiety | 3.3 | 2 |
The data shows that residents of Liverpool have lower levels of personal well-being than Shetland
For anxiety, the higher the score, the more anxious people feel
Quantitative data is useful as it:
Provides a way to measure the social, economic and environmental problems in an area
Can be used to compare places
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Remember, not every person feels the same way about the area in which they happen to live. Perhaps, some people have been forced to move there due to the limited availability of social housing, so they feel unhappy. Other people may feel secure in the area, so they have a happy attachment to the place.
People’s perceptions (subjective opinions) and image of a place are personal, rather than objective, so quantitative evidence is harder to collect. You could design an interview to ask different population groups, such as secondary school students, retired people and working adults; also consider the ethnic diversity of the area’s population.
Some possible questions about belonging and place:
How long have you lived in this place?
Do you feel that you belong to this place?
No
What is it that makes you feel this way?
Yes
What is it that makes you feel this way?
Have your feelings changed during the time you have lived here?
No
Yes
Have your feelings become more or less positive?
What factors have prompted this change in feeling?
What do you think is the most negative aspect of the place’s image today?
What do you think is the most positive aspect of the place’s image today?
The quantitative evidence (e.g. census data and the personal well-being survey) can be used to support the findings of the qualitative data.
Use of Different Media
Using media (television dramas, blogs, films, news broadcasts, newspapers) can help develop a viewer’s sense of place
These types of media reach a large audience and can give outsiders an image of what a place is like by portraying the lived experiences of people
People can form attachments to places through perception gained from media or hearing the experiences of others
People can become attached to a place they have never visited
Media can provide alternative evidence about the image and perceptions of places
The images shown could be in contrast to what the residents’ views are
However, media is subjective and may not accurately show how people perceive a place:
Some writers may portray a favourable image of a place to enhance a story
Other places may be depicted as worse than they are to add drama, which risks stigmatising an area and its locals
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Remember, some of these media, such as television documentaries, are controversial and need to be considered carefully e.g. Liverpudlians believed Desperate Scousewives, a reality TV show based in Liverpool, created an unfair image of people from Liverpool.
Use of Different Representations
Different representations of places can influence the perception of cultural and demographic issues and conflict:
Changes in the demographics of an area (e.g. total numbers and age structures) could lead to tension, such as the building of new houses on a greenfield site to accommodate an increasing population
Changes in the ethnic mix of an area could lead to social clustering and the segregation of ethnic minorities, such as Polish migrants living in an area of poor housing in Boston
Some possible representations that could influence people’s perceptions of issues include:
Newspapers
News reports
Documentaries on TV
YouTube video clips uploaded by individuals
Estate agents
Tourism and local enterprise offices
Local authorities
Consideration needs to be given to the accuracy of documentaries and video sources:
Only a small number of people might be interviewed
Only a few images might be shown
The local community forums might be very vocal and not represent the majority
Worked Example
Explain why it's difficult to assess the validity of someone's perception of a place.
[6 marks]
Define the terms perception of place and lived experience
Explain why the statistical analysis of data might not give the complete picture of what a place is really like
Back up with statistical evidence from your chosen places
Explain why media depictions of a place can also be unreliable in assessing what a place is like
Give examples of how your chosen places are depicted in the media
Comment on whether these depictions validate or contradict the lived experience of a place
Answer:
Individuals or groups of people will have different perceptions of a place, whether positive or negative. These images, held by a person or group of people, are created by a person’s assessment of information, so these images are subjective rather than objective. An outsider’s perception of a place (perhaps gained from the media) could be different from an insider’s view, who has experience of living in a particular place. These factors can make it difficult to assess the validity of someone’s perception of place.
Statistics can help determine whether people have a positive or negative image of a place, however, quantitative data may not always provide a valid image. The National Well-being Survey measures the well-being of people living in the UK by assessing their life satisfaction, happiness, anxiety, and feeling that the things they do in life are worthwhile. These results show whether people are feeling positive or negative towards the area they live in. The results show that Shetland residents have a higher level of personal well-being than Liverpudlians. However, the sample size of the survey may be very small, which may not reflect the majority of the population. Some Liverpudlians, who did not complete the survey, could have very high levels of personal well-being. The Census can help determine how the population structure is changing and what impacts it might be having on the place. For example, Liverpool’s 2019 net international migration was +3217. Many of these international migrants will settle in inner-city areas of Liverpool, like Toxteth, where 23 percent of the population were born outside the UK. However, the Census is only done once every 10 years, so the data used could be out-of-date.
Using media can help develop or change a viewer’s perception of a place. It can provide contrasting views to what the residents feel about the place. For example, Bread (a 1980s TV programme) depicted inner-city, working-class Liverpudlian families as work-shy and benefit-cheating. This stereotype was criticised by some Liverpudlians. Some media representation of Shetland is also contradictory. The book, Shetland, portrayed Shetland as having high levels of violent crimes. In reality, violent crimes only account for 1.3 percent of crimes; the majority of crimes are motoring offences. The personal well-being survey shows Shetland’s anxiety levels are low, which might not necessarily be the case if residents viewed Shetland as violent.
It’s difficult to assess the validity of someone’s perceptions as perceptions are subjective. Perceptions can be formed using quantitative data and media representations. However, the data might be out-of-date and the media could be biased.
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