Economic Activity & Energy Practical Skills (Edexcel IGCSE Geography)

Economic Activity and Energy Enquiry

• In this fieldwork enquiry, the focus is on developing energy resources
• To undertake an energy fieldwork enquiry there are a range of practical skills and methods that will be used
• These can apply to any energy fieldwork
• The fieldwork enquiry should be linked to geographical theory

Aims and Hypothesis

• The aims and hypothesis come from questions asked about developing energy resources such as:
  • What are people's views and opinions regarding a new wind farm?
  • Why do people have the views and opinions they do?
  • What environmental impact does a new renewable energy plant have on the surrounding area?
• Examples of an aim could include:
  • An investigation into the impact of a new renewable energy plant
  • An investigation into people's opinions of a wind farm expansion 
• Examples of a hypothesis could include:
  • The environmental quality will increase with distance from the new renewable energy plant
  • People living in the local area will be opposed to the expansion of a wind farm
• After the aims and hypothesis of the fieldwork have been established the next steps include:
  • Selecting the sites - this will involve sampling
  • Deciding on the equipment to be used
  • Considering any health and safety issues - completing a risk assessment
  • Data collection methods

Site Selection and Sampling

• To collect the data it is not practical to look at the environmental impact in all areas around the development such as a wind farm or ask all local people their opinion
• To select the sites used sampling should be used to reduce bias
• There may be situations where access to the sample sites may be limited, meaning an opportunistic approach to sampling may need to be taken. However, this should be as close as possible to the site selected using sampling
• The most commonly used sampling strategies for an economic activity and energy enquiry are:
  • Systematic - sampling of sites at regular intervals around the energy development 
  • Random - the use of random sampling means that all sites have an equal chance of being selected which eliminates bias
  • Stratified - if completing a questionnaire the population selected should be representative of the whole population. For example, if 10% of the population is over 65 then 10% of the sample should be over 65
• Site location can be recorded using GPS to give an accurate location using latitude and longitude

Equipment

• To complete the economic activity and energy enquiry measurements, a range of equipment is needed
• The equipment includes the following:
  • Clipboard for holding record sheets
  • Environmental quality survey
  • Questionnaires 
  • Pencil for writing in data
  • Camera to take photographs of sites 

Risk Assessment

• Any fieldwork will involve consideration of health and safety using a risk assessment
• Risks associated specifically with economic activity and energy may include:
  • Weather conditions 
  • Traffic
  • Working in an unfamiliar place
  • Contact strangers

• The data collection methods depend on the aims/hypothesis of the fieldwork
  • In energy 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 attitudes of local people towards a wind farm expansion or the building of a renewable energy plant
  • An example of a statement question would be:
    • 'The expansion of the wind farm has led to increased visual pollution in the area. 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 expansion of the wind farm at......?'
• The questionnaires can be used to gather a large data sample

Environmental Quality Surveys

• Environmental quality surveys (EQS) can be used to compare different sites around the energy development
  • A survey would be completed for each site
  • Care needs to be taken to be as objective as possible

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 energy enquiry photographs and field sketches can be used to show the development of new energy sources and the impact that these developments have
• Photographs are also useful for illustrating the data collection methods used