Coastal Landscape Skills (AQA A Level Geography)

• 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

• This is a way of testing for a significant difference or connection between two variables 
• 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 three 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% 

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. 

Beach Site	Observed	Expected	(O-E)	(O-E)2
1	6	16	-10	100
2	9	16	-7	49
3	17	16	1	1
4	20	16	4	16
5	28	16	12	144
			Total	310

• 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 foreground, midground and background
• Consider the impact of the colours
• Think about what has not been included in the picture, what might be just out of frame?