Changing Rural Environments: Methods (Edexcel GCSE Geography A)

Rural Fieldwork Methods

• The data collection methods depend on the aims/hypothesis of the fieldwork

  • In rural environment fieldwork the only equipment which may be used is a digital decibel meter

  • Other data collection may include questionnaires, traffic counts and environmental quality surveys

• Data collection should include both quantitative and qualitative methods

Questionnaires

• Questionnaires can be used to gather the opinions of local people on changes in the rural environment

  • An example of a statement question would be:

    • 'The building of the new housing estate has increased traffic.' Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree?

  • An example of a closed question would be:

    • 'How long have you lived in this area?'

  • An example of an open question would be:

    • 'What are your views on the new housing development in ............?'

• These can be used to gather a large data sample

• People may misunderstand the question or lie and this would affect the reliability of the data collected

• Depending on the types of questions asked questionnaires can be qualitative or quantitative

Environmental Quality Surveys

• Environmental Quality Surveys (EQS) can be used to compare different sites within the rural area 

  • A survey would be completed for each site

  • Care needs to be taken to be as objective as possible

  • EQS are a qualitative method

  • A range of sites needs to be collected to ensure there is sufficient data for conclusions to be drawn

  • Depending on the time of day/year the data collected may change, this needs to be considered in the evaluation - at rush hour there may a much higher than average level of traffic

Traffic and Pedestrian Flow Surveys

• Traffic and pedestrian flow surveys can be used to compare the traffic and pedestrian levels at different sample sites

• They can be completed on a tally chart at different sites and at different times of the day, this will help ensure:

  • Sufficient data is collected to be able to draw conclusions

  • The data is representative

Photographs and Field Sketches

• Photographs and field sketches are qualitative data 

• Just as with any data collection and presentation, they have their strengths and weaknesses

• In a rural environment, enquiry photographs and field sketches can be used to show changes in land use and impact on the environment at sample site locations

• Photographs are also useful for illustrating the data collection methods used

Rural Environment Enquiry Data Presentation

• Data presentation can take many forms

Primary Data 

• Much of the primary data collected in a rural environment enquiry will be presented in the form of graphs:

  • Each type of graph is suitable for particular data sets 

  • The graphs may have strengths and limitations

Bar graphs 

• One of the simplest methods to display discrete data 

• Bar graphs are useful for:

  • Comparing classes or groups of data

  • Changes over time

Compound or divided bar chart

• The bars are subdivided to show the information, with all bars totalling 100%

• The main use of a divided bar chart is to compare numeric values between levels of a variable such as time

Rose diagrams

• Use multidirectional axes to plot data with bars

• Compass points are used for the axis direction

• Can be used for data such as wind direction, noise or light levels

Wind Direction Shown on a Rose Diagram

Scatter graph

• Points should not be connected

• The best fit line can be added to show the relations

• Used to show the relationship between two variables

  • In a river study, they are used to show the relationship between different river characteristics such as the relationship between the width and depth of the river channel

Proportional symbols map

• The symbols on the map are drawn in proportion to the variable represented

• Usually, a circle or square is used but it could be an image

• Can be used to show a range of data, for example, population, wind farms and electricity they generate, traffic or pedestrian flows

Proportional Circles Map Showing GDP (Billion US$) across Europe

Secondary Data

• Any fieldwork should include secondary data as well as primary data

• In a rural environment enquiry suitable data may include:

  • Historical traffic counts

  • Maps of the area where the land use change has occurred

  • Newspaper articles/websites about the land use change

  • Aerial photographs

Analysis

• Once all the data has been collected and presented, it needs to be analysed

• The data which is collected regarding rural environment change such as environmental quality surveys and traffic counts is quantitative data and will be analysed using statistical methods

• One of the main statistical methods that may be used is the mean

Conclusion

• Once the data has been analysed, conclusions can be reached

• The conclusion should state whether the hypothesis has been proved or disproved 

• Identify and explain any anomalies, such as:

  • A sample site that has a low traffic count but high levels of noise pollution

• Anomalies may occur due to a natural cause or maybe the result of incorrect recording or human error when using the equipment

Evaluation

• The final stage of the rural environment enquiry is the evaluation, which outlines how successful or not the rural environment enquiry was and what could be done differently were it to be repeated. For example:

  • Next time, I would take measurements over a longer period of time to ensure the reliability of the data

  • I completed the environmental survey on my own, which is subjective; next time I would complete it in groups and take the mode score

  • I think my investigation went well and I would like to repeat it at another time of year to see if this impacts the environmental quality