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Notes On Geographical Skills and Fieldwork Investigations

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58 views3 pages

Notes On Geographical Skills and Fieldwork Investigations

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muhammedzonaid304
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A-Level Geography

Geographical Skills and


Fieldwork Investigations
PMT Education
Written by Jeevan Singh

© PMT Education
Geographical Fieldwork Tips

 Use different types of geographical information: qualitative and quantitative data, primary
and secondary data, images, texts, digital data as well as numerical and spatial data.

 BE CRITICAL! Why would you use one source over another? Relate your answer to these concepts:
- Bias: Are there vested interests involved? Why is the writer creating the source?
- Reputability: Who wrote it?
- Validity: Do other sources state similar information?
- Date of Production: Was it recent and thus more accurate?
- Relevance: Do you need it? Why?
- Quality of References: Is information from good sources?
- Accuracy: Does the information seem correct?

 Collect, analyse and interpret information and demonstrate your ability of understanding
tasks and data.

 Be conscious of your data presentation, the ability to identify sources of error and how you
write your methodologies. Be clear and concise.

 EVALUATE for top marks. Evaluation is the highest level of thinking so evidence you can do it!
Think about whether there were any problems in your fieldwork and how you would change the
investigation if you did it again. Why might someone disagree with your conclusions and how
would you respond to them?

 Bring in case studies from the wider world and think about how they link to your small scale
investigation. If your conclusions were extrapolated to the wider world, what would that mean?

 Reference well known theories to strengthen your arguments. Use geographical models to
demonstrate your knowledge of geography and how you can manipulate data to produce new
conclusions.

© PMT Education
Geographical Skills
These are some skills, techniques and tips you can use when planning your investigation. For top
marks, remember you do not have to do everything. Quality never quantity.

 Core skills:
- Use of annotated maps and images.
- Create sketch maps, Ordnance Survey maps, diagrams, graphs, field sketches, photographs
and digital imagery.
- Use overlays on your maps to acknowledge the complexities and patterns of your fieldwork.
- Use numerical techniques to identify patterns and anomalies in your data.
- Carry out questionnaires and interviews.

 Cartographic skills:
- Ability to use atlas maps, weather maps, synoptic diagrams.
- Maps showing movement – flow lines, trip lines, desire lines.
- Maps showing spatial patterns – choropleth, isoline and dot maps.

 Graphical skills:
- Line graphs
- Bar graphs – make them more complex by making them comparative or compound.
- Scatter graphs – create a line of best fit and describe the correlation and whether there are
any anomalies and why these occurred.
- Pie charts – good for understanding proportions within a population

 Statistical skills:
- Measures of central tendency – mean, mode and median
- Measure of dispersion – range, interquartile range, standard deviation
- Complex statistical techniques involve – Spearman’s rank, hypothesis testing, significance
tests

 ICT skills:
- Use remotely sensed data
- Make your investigations more efficient by using spreadsheets to organise databases,
produce graphs and calculate statistical measures.

© PMT Education

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