Geographical skills · GCSE Geography
Fieldwork
How to design a geographical enquiry, collect trustworthy data, present it, and evaluate it — the skills paper in one hook.
A good enquiry is a question you can actually measure.
The important bits
What you need to know
- 1
An enquiry starts with a hypothesis or question tied to theory: “bedload size decreases downstream” (Bradshaw) or “environmental quality falls with distance from a CBD peak land-value point”. If you cannot measure it, it is not a fieldwork question.
- 2
Risk assessment is not a joke: tides, traffic, strangers, weather, slippery channel beds. Control measures (high-vis, pairs, check-ins) belong in the method write-up.
- 3
Sampling: random (every point equal chance), systematic (every 10 m), stratified (in proportion to environments). Say why you chose it. Convenience sampling is weaker and you should admit that if you used it.
- 4
Physical methods: river cross-sections, velocity (flow meter or float), pebble size and roundness, beach profiles, infiltration. Human: pedestrian counts, questionnaires, environmental quality scores, land-use mapping, photographs, GIS pin-drops.
- 5
Primary data you collect; secondary data (Census, Environment Agency, OS, Google satellite) sets context or checks your results. Both can be biased. A questionnaire of Saturday shoppers is not “the town”.
- 6
Presentation must match data: located bars, isoline or choropleth for area scores, scatter for relationships, annotated photos, GIS layers. A pretty pie chart of pebble lithology may tell you less than a scatter of size against distance.
- 7
Analysis looks for pattern, anomaly and link back to theory. An anomaly is a gift if you explain it (a tributary, a weir, a supermarket car park interrupting your transect).
- 8
Evaluation: accuracy, reliability, sample size, weather, time of day, equipment error, and how you would improve it. This is where top marks hide. Do not write “it went well”.
Go deeper
Sampling is the method, not an extra word
If you systematically sample a river every 10 metres you may miss a pool-riffle sequence that random points would catch — or vice versa. Stratified sampling on a beach (equal points on upper, mid, lower shore) stops you over-studying the easy sand nearest the steps. In the write-up, name the technique, justify it against the hypothesis, and admit the bias of access. Examiners are tired of “we used random sampling” from students who actually stood where the teacher put the ranging poles. Honesty plus a sensible limitation scores higher than a textbook word used inaccurately.
Go deeper
Evaluating without trashing your whole day
Evaluation is not a confession that the trip was pointless. Distinguish accuracy (are the velocity readings close to true flow?) from reliability (would a repeat on another Tuesday look similar?). A flow meter in weed-choked water is an accuracy problem; a sample of 12 pebbles is a reliability problem. Weather that raised stage after lunch is a control problem. Then propose a fix: more sites, a calibrated meter, a weekday and Saturday questionnaire, a longer transect. Link each flaw to how it might have changed the conclusion. That causal link is the difference between level 2 and level 3.
See the idea in action
Hypothesis: pebble size decreases with distance from the cliff on a beach. Method: systematic sample every 5 m along a transect, 15 pebbles at each station, longest axis measured, roundness with Powers scale. Presentation: scatter of median size against distance. Result: a general decline, anomaly at 25 m beside a groyne (trapped coarse load). Evaluation: low tide only, one transect, human rounding error — so the pattern is suggestive, not proof of LSD sorting alone.
Exam technique
Turn knowledge into marks
Learn your actual school sites. Invented data from “a river in Wales” is obvious. Real place names, real problems, real graphs.
Common mistakes
Do not give these marks away
- 01
Writing a holiday diary of the day instead of question–method–results–conclusion–evaluation.
- 02
Calling a clipboard of mates “random sampling”.
- 03
Drawing the wrong graph (pie for continuous change along a transect).
What is the difference between accuracy and reliability in fieldwork?
AThey mean the same thing
BAccuracy is closeness to the true value; reliability is whether repeats would give a similar pattern
CReliability is always higher in questionnaires than in river data
DAccuracy only applies to secondary data
Show the answer
Accuracy is closeness to the true value; reliability is whether repeats would give a similar pattern. A tape measure can be accurate but a sample of five pebbles is still unreliable. Top evaluation names both and says how to improve each.
Quick questions
If this is the bit you searched
Do I have to do both physical and human fieldwork?
On AQA you need both an unsustainable physical and a human enquiry (wording varies by board). Know one river or coast and one urban or economic study in full enquiry structure.
Can I use GIS in the exam write-up?
Yes, if you actually used it: a pinned map of EQS scores or a satellite check of land use. Name the tool and what it added, rather than waving “GIS” as a spell.