Fieldwork

 

Aims of fieldwork

 

Fieldwork is the general name given to the range of techniques which geographers use to collect information. The term "field" simply refers to the idea that you have to go outside the classroom to conduct your research, ie to obtain PRIMARY/1st HAND DATA. You are responsible for collecting the information, and do not rely on Second Hand information that someone else has gathered (ie by reading a book or using the internet)

 

The aim of fieldwork is to help carry out an investigation, eg into traffic flows or shopping habits, or land use. Investigations have four stages:

 

1.Planning,

-ie deciding what it is you wish to find out

asking questions

making up an hypothesis

2.gathering information

-collecting the data

3.processing information

-putting the data into a format which allows you to note things such as

-trends

-patterns

-rank order

-proportion

4.analysis of information

-ie picking out the key points, describing them and giving reasons for them

 

Asking questions-Thin and Fat questions

 

Questions are a basic way of finding out information. We talk about THIN questions and FAT questions

 

"Thin questions" are those which are closed, in other words there is only one correct answer, eg What instrument measures slope angle (answer-clinometer).

 

"Fat questions" are those where you need to show some thinking, reasoning or detail, eg

 

Describe how you would measure slope

 

it is useful to know difference when carrying out fieldwork,

eg a thin question might be "How much litter is there in the cycle track"

 

A fat question might be, "What could be done to get rid of the litter"

There are two ways of asking questions.

 

Questionnaires are best suited to thin questions, eg you might ask a series of multi choice questions, where all the respondant needs to do is tick the correct reposnse. Questionnaires are good for obtaining a good sample, covering a wide range of people.

 

Interviews are better suited to fat questions, because you can ask the interviewee more detailed questions, and hopefully get more information. You can follow up a question, eg by saying, "Could you just explain that a little more", or "would you mind giving me a bit more information on that last point" You could possibly carry out an interview online, by e-mailing questions and answers back and forth.

 

Measuring a slope

 

Slope angles or gradiuent are measured using a pair of ranging poles, a clinomter and a tape measure

a clinometer comprises a rotating wheel (which is marked in angles) attached to a simple level which has a sight at one end and a trigger at the other. Pulling the trigger releases the wheel and it swings according to the angle of the clinometer. Relaesing the trigger stops the wheel rotating and you are able to take a reading of how many degrees above or below the horizontal the clinomter is pointing.

 

 

 

 

An example of a clinomter

 

Most hillsides have a range of slope angles (think about Duchal Road-it has flat and steeper sections), so you should divide it into a series of straight sections and measure the angle of each section separately.

 

One pupil stands with a ranging pole at the start of the 1st section (Point A)

A second pupil stands at the far end of th section with another ranging pole. (Point B)

The distance between the two poles AB is measured using a tape measure, to the nearest cm (0.01m)

One pupil lines up the clinometer so that there is a line of sight between the identical point on each of the two ranging poles.

(s)he takes three readings (to reduce risk of error or a misreading) The average is recorded.

 

Point B now becomes the starting position for the second section and a the second pole is moved to point C on the slope. The distance BC and the angle of the second section is now measured.

 

Eventually you have a set of measurements, eg

 

Section	Angle	Distance(m
AB	3	2.56
BC	6	6.1
CD	10	2.91
DE	5	5.45

 

this information can be plotted on graph paper to give a scale drawing called a slope transect.

 

 

 

 

The pupils in this picture are carrying out a slope survey. Note the ranging poles and clinometer.

 

Land Use Survey

 

Land use surveys are desgned to show patterns of land use in particular areas, eg along a street, in a villlage, around a farm. If we look at the map of Radley, we ca see that different colours are used to

distinguish each land uses (eg blue =wheat; lime green=horses)

the extent of coverage (quite a lot od wheat, much less land for horses)

the location of each land use (most wheat is grown west of Radley; horses garze to the south of Radley)

 

 land use map of Radley (an HMC school in Oxfordshie) plotted by Sixth Year pupils

 

 

How would they have collected this information?

 

Land use is plotted using a classification scheme called by the acronym RICEPOTS

 

R=Residential (houses)

I=Industrial (factories, quarries)

C=commercial (shops)

E=Entertainment (pub, cinema, theatre)

P=public buildings (schools, churches, community centre, council offices)

O=open space (Parks)

T=transport (car par; cycle track; railway station)

S=Services (doctors' dentist, social services)

 

select the area of study, eg a street..

Pace out each building to work out its frontage

Mark this on to graph paper, ruling off each separate building

record its ground floor land use by a letter (referring to RICEPOTS)

record second and subsequent floors land use

use subheadings to distinguish different types of each main classifiacton, eg Rs for semi-detached; Rv for villa; Rf for flat.

You could also take photographs or draw sketches to record land use.

 

In class, transfer the rough notes to a fair copy, colour coding the map, as advised by your teacher.

 

You can then describe and suggest reasons for any patterns you notice, eg

 

Are certain types of shops clustered in the one area?

Are flats and villas foud in different streets? If so, why?

Where is open space usually found?

 

 

Traffic Survey

 

 

Traffic surveys are used to find out the volume of traffic passing particular points over a given period of time. local councils may wish to examine the flow of traffic to work out where to position traffic lights, or a new roundabout. They may want to consider whether to instal speed bumps, or to find out how busy the road is at cetain times of the day, to see how it can be improved for safety.

 

Pupils were put into pairs and allocated sample stations at various points within the village. each pair had a booking sheet on which to record their results. They had to count the total number of vehicles passing by in both directions within a 10 minute interval. vehicles were classified as:

 

cars

vans

lorries

buses

scooters

tractors

 

Tally marks were used to record each individual vehicle.

 

On return to class, each pair reported their results and an Excel spreadsheet was uses to summarise the findings. A spreadsheet is a good way to tabulate results and helps to make patterns clearer. You can use the tools of the package to calculate totals and averages, as well as draw graphs.

 

Pupils used Excel to draw up graphs to show traffic totals.

bar graphs show total numbers and can be subdivided by colour to show the breakdown of vehicles by class (eg car, bus, etc). two bars were drawn for each survey point:

 

1. Incoming traffic (heading to the Cross)

2. outgoing traffic (heading away from the Cross)

 

pupils in 2A have added their comments about the traffic survey on to the Geog Blog.

 

 

Environmental Survey

 

This involves comparing two or more areas to find out the quality of the environment

 

The class decides on the features of the environment they wish to measure, eg

 

Litter

graffiti

cigarette ends

untidy gardens

derelict buildings

 

The groups then take up position at a selection of sample points within the village

at each sample point the group awards points to each feature by completing a table.

the table will have five headings ranging from double negative to double positive.

each row will represent a different feature, eg litter, cigarette butts

Highly negative features will score low (eg double minus), whereas highly positive features (eg complete absence of litter) will score  double plus

Two places could be plotted on the same table, in different colours, for comparison.

 

 part of an outline table, with the headings:

 

- -	-	0	+	++

 

Eventually, you will have a plotted a profile for each place you have selected to study.

You can then produce a bi-polar graph. This lets you compare and contrast different areas.

 

 

Graphical technique-Pie Chart

 

 

 

Pie charts are used for showing how something breaks down into its separate parts. Note that

Pie charts are usually drawn so the biggest piece of pie comes first (starting at 12 o'clock).

The "others" section usually goes last (coming up to 12 o'clock). If each piece of pie has its percentage written in, it's easier for the reader to work out the exact proportions.

 

 

The three pie charts below show differences in the split between primary, secondary and tertiary employment in USA, Brazil and Nepal.

 

 

 

In this example the circles are the same size. It would also have been possible to make the size of the circle proportional to the size of each country's labour market. Pie charts like this are sometime called proportional circles.