Rural Practical Skills (Edexcel IGCSE Geography)

Spec point — 4GE1-S9.128

Aims, sampling, equipment & risk assessment

Rural environment fieldwork enquiry

• To undertake the rural fieldwork enquiry there are a range of practical skills and methods that 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 environmental 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:

  • 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

**Suggest two possible geographical aims for an investigation of this rural area **

(2 Marks)

• 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

  • 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 Mark)

• Answer:

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

Explain one way that this method helped you to collect reliable data or information.

(2 Marks)

• 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 Marks)

• 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 the risk 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 fields where there was no livestock were entered (1)

Equipment for Investigating Rural Environments

Spec point — 4GE1-S9.128

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

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 at different times of the day

Worked Example **Identify one type of quantitative data used in a rural environment land use change enquiry **

(1 mark)

• 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 Marks)

• 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 Hint 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.