Data Collection
Health and safety in the field
- Carry out a risk assessment on the area you have chosen
- Identify any hazards and ways they can be dealt with
- Dress appropriately to keep warm and dry. If sun is forecast, bring and wear sun screen and a hat
- Contact details - always have a contact/meeting point, an emergency contact number and your school's telephone number
- Check weather forecast for the area
- Make sure all mobile phones are fully charged with emergency numbers already uploaded and on speed dial if possible
- Have designated rendezvous points and emergency contacts
- River work
- Do not push people or otherwise mess about in water
- Take extreme care near river banks, especially where the ground is steep or wet
- Wear suitable footwear at all times
- Do not swim in the water
- Coastal fieldwork
- Check high and low tide times
- Use dedicated footpaths to access the beach
- Don’t climb on groynes or sea defence structures
- Do not handle beach litter, wear gloves when picking up pebbles
- Stay at least one metre away from the tide line and keep an eye on the waves
- Do not enter the sea under any circumstances
- Stay in pairs/threes and in visual contact with a member of staff at all times
- Town centre
- Ensure that you have the contact numbers for staff and that they have your mobile phone number too
- Ensure your mobile phone is charged and in credit
- Use the map in your pack to familiarise yourself with the area
- Stay with your group at all times – no one should be on their own at any time
- Keep valuables concealed – digital cameras are brought at your own risk
- Only question people you are comfortable talking to and who are happy to help you
- Avoid asking the same person as another group working in the same area
- Use the pedestrian crossing where possible
- Equipment
- Check all equipment is working and that you have enough for each student/group and some spares
- Make sure you know how to use specific equipment and/or any recording sheets provided
- Ensure you practice using the equipment in a safe environment before taking it out in the field
- Where laptops and smartphones are to be used and internet access is needed, check out that this is possible
- If apps are to be used, make sure these are downloaded onto each piece of equipment
Data collection
- Data collected by the student within their fieldwork is primary data.
- Examples of primary data can include:
- Questionnaire data
- River data - width, depth etc...
- Video/audio recordings
- Photographs
- Interview information
- Data collected by someone else but used by the student in their enquiry is secondary data
- Examples of secondary data can include:
- Census results
- Weather data
- Old photographs
- Maps
- Newspaper articles
- Websites
Strengths | Limitations | |
Primary Data |
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Secondary Data |
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- Data which records quantities is quantitative data
- Examples of quantitative data are:
- Numerical data collected in questionnaires
- Traffic counts
- Environmental quality surveys
- River data - velocity, discharge
- Weather data
- Data which records descriptive information is qualitative data
- Examples of qualitative data:
- Field sketches and photographs
- Non-numeric questionnaire data
- Interview answers
Questionnaires and interviews
- When collecting data via questionnaires or interviews a number of questioning types can be used:
- Closed questions where answers are limited to single words, numbers or a list of options
- Statements which use a scale to gauge people's views. For example, strongly agree/agree
- Open questions where the respondent can give any answer
- Questionnaires can be used to gather a large sample of data
- Interviews are more in-depth and tend to be used to gather a smaller data sample
Environmental quality surveys
- These are used to collect data about the environmental quality of different sites
- They use the judgement of the person conducting the survey to assess environmental quality against a range of indicators
- Using a sliding scale (1 -5) or bipolar scale (-3 to 3)
- Usually, the lower the score the more negative the assessment of the environmental quality
- They are subjective because they are based on the opinion of the person completing them
- This can be reduced by:
- Completing in small groups to reach a consensus regarding the score
- Using the mode of EQS completed by a number of students
- They produce quantitative data
Strengths | Limitations | |
Quantitative Data |
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Qualitative Data |
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