Urban Practical Skills (Edexcel IGCSE Geography): Revision Note

Aims, sampling, equipment & risk assessment

Urban environment fieldwork enquiry

• To undertake the urban fieldwork enquiry there are a range of practical skills and methods will be used

• These can apply to any urban fieldwork

• The fieldwork enquiry should be linked to geographical theory

  • In the urban fieldwork enquiry the theories of the changes in urban land use and sustainability

Aims and hypothesis

• The aims and hypothesis come from the questions asked about the change in urban environments such as:

  • How does the quality of the urban environment vary along a transect?

  • What impact on the urban environment does the building of a new housing estate/road/industrial estate have?

  • How has the land use on the urban fringe changed?

• Examples of an aim would be:

  • An investigation into the environmental impact of a new road/housing estate/business park in the city of Y

  • An investigation into changes in land use on the urban-rural fringe of the city of X

  • An investigation into environmental quality from the CBD to the urban fringe in the city of W

• Hypotheses are statements that are tested through fieldwork

• An example of a hypothesis would be:

  • Environmental quality improves with distance from the CBD

• A null hypothesis is a statement that is opposite to a hypothesis 

  • This ensures there is no bias when collecting the evidence

    • You are not ignoring evidence because it doesn't prove the statement

  • If you cannot prove the statement then the opposite must be true

  • Examples of a null hypothesis would be:

    • Environmental quality does not improve with distance from the CBD

• After the aims and hypothesis have been established the next steps are to:

  • Select the sites - this will involve sampling

  • Decide on the equipment to be used

  • Consider health and safety issues - complete a risk assessment

  • Data collection methods to be used

Site selection and sampling

• It is not practical to take measurements or look at changes in all parts of the urban environment 

• To select sites sampling should be used

• Sampling will:

  • Reduce bias

  • Provide an overview of the whole

• There may be situations where access to the sample site may be limited meaning an opportunistic approach may need to be taken

  • This should be as close as possible to the site selected using sampling

• The most commonly used sampling strategies for urban environment enquiries are:

  • Systematic - a sampling of sites/people at regular intervals along a transect line

  • Random - all sites have an equal chance of being selected

  • Stratified - sampling sites which represent the whole

    • If 10% of the population is over 65 then 10% of a questionnaire sample should be over 65

• Site location can be recorded using GPS to give an accurate location using latitude and longitude

• Use of grid reference and compass points can also be used

Equipment

• To complete the urban environments enquiry a range of equipment is needed

• The equipment needed may include the following:

  • Record sheets

  • Interview Sheets

  • Pencil for completing recording sheets

  • Camera to take photographs of land use

  • Digital noise meter

  • Environmental Quality Surveys

  • Maps

Risk assessment

• Any fieldwork will involve consideration of health and safety using a risk assessment

• Risks specifically associated with urban environment fieldwork may include:

  • Weather conditions

  • Working in an unfamiliar place

  • Traffic

  • Getting lost

  • Speaking to strangers

  • Pollution

  • Cars

Using equipment in the field

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

  • In urban 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 urban 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

Environmental quality surveys

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

  • A survey would be completed for each site

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

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

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 an urban environment enquiry, photographs and field sketches can be used to show changes in land use and their impact on the environment at sample site locations

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