Edexcel IGCSE Geography

Revision Notes

14.1.1 Rural Practical Skills

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Aims, Sampling, Equipment & Risk Assessment

Rural Environment Fieldwork Enquiry

  • To undertake the rural fieldwork enquiry there are a range of practical skills and methods will be used
  • These can apply to any rural fieldwork
  • The fieldwork enquiry should be linked to geographical theory
    • In the rural fieldwork enquiry, the theories of counter-urbanisation can be linked to rural environment change

Aims and Hypothesis

  • The aims and hypothesis come from the questions asked about the change in rural environments such as:
    • What impact on the rural environment does the building of a new housing estate/road/industrial estate have?
    • How has the land use in [specified location] changed?
  • Examples of an aim would be:
    • An investigation into the environmental impact of a new road/housing estate/business park in [specified location]
    • An investigation into changes in land use in [specified location]
  • Examples of hypotheses would be:
    • The building of [specified location] housing estate has had a negative impact on the environment
    • The changing land use in [specified location] has negatively impacted the local environment
  • After the aims and hypothesis 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
    • Deciding on data collection methods 

Worked example

Study Figure 1 which shows a map extract of a farm

jX1J14gl_0886278c-d857-417d-83ae-589c9bd1274a_1_201_a

Suggest two possible geographical aims for an investigation of this rural area (2)

  • Answer: 
    • Changing land use on the farm (1)
    • The impact of changing land use on the environment (1)

Site Selection and Sampling

  • It is not practical to take measurements or look at changes in all parts of the rural 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. However, this should be as close as possible to the site selected using sampling
  • The most commonly used sampling strategies for a rural environment enquiry are:
    • Systematic - sampling of sites/people at regular intervals along a transect line
    • Random - all sites have an equal chance of being selected. A grid is placed across the rural area to be sampled
    • 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

Worked example

You have studied rural environments as part of your own geographical enquiry

State one type of sampling you used in your geographical enquiry  (1)

  • Answer: 
    • Systematic (1)
    • Stratified (1)
    • Random (1)
    • Opportunistic (1)

Explain one way that this method helped you to collect reliable data or information  (2)

  • Answer:
    • Systematic sampling was used at regular intervals (1) so that we knew that we would get good spatial coverage to minimise bias (1)
    • Stratified sampling was used as we had census data about the village population (1) so we could design a fair sampling frame for the questionnaire about the impact on the environment that we were using (1)
    • Random sampling was used as all sites have an equal chance of being selected (1) this minimises bias (1)
    • Opportunistic sampling was used as some of the sample sites could not be accessed (1) this meant the nearest accessible sites had to be used for data collection (1)

Equipment

  • To complete the rural 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 rural environment fieldwork may include:
    • Weather conditions
    • Uneven ground
    • Working in an unfamiliar place
    • Traffic
    • Livestock

Worked example

Explain one way you managed a risk associated with your primary data collection (2)

  • Answer:  1 mark will be awarded for identifying the risk and a second mark for developing the answer to explain how the risk was managed 
    • In the rural area, there was a lot of farm traffic so risk the was being struck by a vehicle (1) this was managed by only walking on pavements and using designated crossings (1)
    • Fieldwork was carried out in summer so there was a slight chance of sunburn and heatstroke (1) Appropriate clothing was worn, suncream applied and water drunk regularly (1)
    • The uneven ground in rural areas poses a risk of slipping or falling (1) appropriate footwear was worn with good treads (1)
    • Livestock in fields poses a risk to people entering the fields (1) only entered fields where there was no livestock (1)

Using Equipment in the Field

  • The data collection methods depend on the aims/hypothesis of the fieldwork
    • In rural 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 rural 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 rural area 
    • A survey would be completed for each site
    • Care needs to be taken to be as objective as possible
Feature Negative -2 -1 0 1 2 Positive
Pavements Pavements damaged and cracked in a poor state of repair           Good quality pavements in excellent state of repair
Buildings Buildings look derelict and uncared for           Buildings look well cared for 
Litter Lots of litter            No litter
Traffic Lots of traffic and congestion           No traffic
Green space No green space, trees or vegetation           Lots of green space, trees and other vegetation
Graffiti Lots of graffiti            No graffiti

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 different times of the day
Vehicle  9am 11am 1pm 3pm
Car        
Bus        
Lorry        
Motorbike        
Bicycle        

Worked example

Identify one type of quantitative data used in a rural environment land use change enquiry (1)

  • Answer:
    • Photos and sketches (1)
    • Information from newspapers/websites (1)
    • Open-ended questions from questionnaires (1)
    • Interview answers (1)

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 a rural environment enquiry photographs and field sketches can be used to show changes in land use and impact on the environment at sample site locations
  • Photographs are also useful for illustrating the data collection methods used

Worked example

Explain why field sketches are a useful form of primary data (2)

  • Answer: 
    • Can capture lots of detail (1) which means they can be examined properly after the field trip has ended (1)
    • Highlights specific features which relate to the other data collected (1) so can be used to support other forms of data collection (1)
    • Easy to annotate to show details (1) so can help with analysis (1).

Exam Tip

Annotations and labels are not the same. A label is a simple descriptive point. For example, 'litter'. Whereas an annotation is a label with a more detailed description or explanatory point. For example, 'Large amounts of litter near to a playground where there are no bins available.

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Bridgette

Author: Bridgette

After graduating with a degree in Geography, Bridgette completed a PGCE over 25 years ago. She later gained an MA Learning, Technology and Education from the University of Nottingham focussing on online learning. At a time when the study of geography has never been more important, Bridgette is passionate about creating content which supports students in achieving their potential in geography and builds their confidence.