Fieldwork and enquiry skills

• Paper 1 Section B is physical fieldwork (a river or coast). Paper 2 Section B is human fieldwork (for example a high street or regeneration scheme). Section B is compulsory on both papers.
• A fieldwork enquiry runs in order: write a question or hypothesis, plan methods and a risk assessment, collect the data, present and analyse it, then write a conclusion and evaluate.
• Primary data is data you collect yourself, such as your own tally or questionnaire. Secondary data is collected by someone else, such as Census figures.
• Sampling can be random (by chance), systematic (at regular intervals) or stratified.
• Presenting data is different from collecting it. A flow-line map is a way of presenting data. A questionnaire is a way of collecting it.
• To improve reliability, repeat measurements at the same site. Repeating the study in another area does not do this.

Hypothesis

A testable statement.

Risk assessment

A plan written before the trip that lists hazards and how to reduce them.

Primary data

Data you collect yourself.

Secondary data

Data collected by someone else, such as Census figures.

Systematic sampling

Choosing sites at regular intervals.

Reliability

How consistent your results are if you repeat the measurement.

• Mixing up data collection and data presentation. Naming a method of collection does not answer a question about presentation.
• Using physical fieldwork to answer the human fieldwork question, or the other way round. This is capped at Level 1.
• Describing step by step what you did on the day when the question asks you to evaluate your methods.
• Saying a technique was good because it was easy to draw or easy to understand. Say what it showed and why that suits the enquiry.
• Ignoring minus signs on the scale when totalling an environmental quality survey.

7 questions, 15 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.