Alternative To Coursework Edited
Alternative To Coursework Edited
Alternative To Coursework Edited
SEQUENCE OF INVESTIGATION
The enquiry skills for Paper 4 are set out in the following stages :
1.Formulation of a hypothesis
3. Collection of data
4. Presentation of data
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suggesting explanations for your findings
6. Making conclusions
PLANNING AN INVESTIGATION
Fieldwork has many dangers so safety precautions must be taken and include the following:
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2. Pilot Study / Pre Survey
This a minor survey done before the major survey. It is relevant because:
it helps in the testing of equipment and methods to be used in the field before the full
investigation
if faults are found with the methods or equipment at this stage, changes can be made before
the actual investigation is undertaken.
It helps in the choice of the sites to be used for the investigation.
3. Equipment to be used
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4. Number of students needed
Investigations can be carried out with the help of others or individually, much depends on the
work involved
SAMPLING
What is a sample?
study
Population – in statistics it Srefers to all items from which a sample is drawn (also referred to
as a ‘sampling frame’)
-when the population is very small it is possible to study every item in the population as
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-when the sampling frame or population is very large such that it is not possible to study
-a subset is chosen from the whole population whose properties are similar to
Sampling Methods
-line sampling : objects or items are chosen along lines drawn on maps /streets
-area/quadrant sampling : sampling takes place within squares or quadrants drawn on maps
-also when interviewing people a sizeable number will not respond , there is therefore often
a difference between the chosen and achieved samples hence the need to have a bigger
sample
Sampling Techniques
-three techniques are commonly used viz: random ,stratified and systematic
Random sampling
-no particular pattern or order is followed when choosing areas of study / respondents
Disadvantages
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-does not work in some surveys where the total population is not known e.g. a shopping
survey
-is not practical enough in some cases e.g. one cannot first number the shoppers and then
select them
Systematic Sampling
-items or objects are picked at some regular intervals e.g. every 4th house in the street, every
Advantages
-allows for a complete cover of population since the clustering that may occur in random
sampling is avoided
Disadvantages
-only useful when sampling from a map where some system can be developed
-not a good method if one is sampling from a list or a directory as the distribution may not
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be physically systematic
Stratified Sampling
-samples are chosen randomly from each group e.g. if you are sampling a population of 50 000 of
which 60% are blacks , 30% whites and 10% are coloreds. If you are to draw up a sample of
1 000 people ,60% (600) should be blacks , 30%(300) should be whites and 10%(100)
coloreds
Advantages
DATA COLLECTION
Refers to data collected in the field by a person or group of people doing the investigation e.g. through
observation, measurement, interviewing or use of questionnaires.
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Information already compiled and published by other people unconnected with the current
investigation. Secondary sources of data include textbooks, journals, maps, the internet , newspapers
etc
opinion.
Direct observation:
-researcher observes and records the data e.g. traffic flow counts
Questionnaires
Measurement
NB: These data collection methods depend on the nature of investigation being undertaken. Collected
data is recorded on record sheets, maps or questionnaires
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DATA COLLECTION
Research methods
- A great variety of research tools have been developed to aid in the acquisition of data e .g
questionnaires, interviews and observation.
QUESTIONAIRRES
Simplicity and brevity are required in the framing of the questions. Great care
must be taken that that the questions are not ambiguous.
Phrase questionnaire items in so as to avoid bias that might predetermine a
respondent’s answer.
Avoid double barrelled questions that attempt to ask two questions in one.
Types of questions
- A good questionnaire should contain both open and closed forms of questions so that
responses from two forms can be checked and compared.
a) Open ended forms of questions
- These enable the respondent to reply as he likes and does not confine him/her to a single
alternative.
- Enables the respondent to state his case freely and possibly give reasons.
- Questions have an unlimited number of options
- The response is not restricted to one answer of the options
- It evokes fuller and richer responses and probably probe deeper than the closed
questionnaire.
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- Open questionnaires may give vague and useless answers.
- The open ended questionnaire frequently goes beyond statistical data or factual
information into the area of hidden motivations that lie behind attitudes, interests,
preferences and decisions.
b) Closed forms of questions
- Requires the respondent to place a tick, make a mark or draw a line alongside one of the
several provided possible answers.
- It facilitates answering and makes it easier for the researcher to code and classify the
responses.
- This is particularly useful if details from a large number of questionnaires have to be delt
with, necessitating the use of either mechanically sorted or computer input punch cards.
- Questions can be structured in several ways:
Completion or fill in
Checklists
Scaled items
Ranking
Likert- type items
PRETESTING
- Before the final printing it is essential that the questionnaire be pretested in order to
identify ambiguities, misunderstandings and other inadequacies.
- Spending an undue amount of time on a question or leaving it blank can be cases that there
are problems with some of the items.
- The results of pretesting can be used to clarify the items or perhaps eliminate some.
- It is especially important to determine whether the questions will operate equally well in
the different social classes and culture groups of the population to be studied.
LAYOUT OF A QUESTIONNAIRRE
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c) Conclusion
- this is where you thank the respondent for his or her time.
Advantages of questionnaires
Design a questionnaire model of not more than 10 questions to investigate the sphere
of influence of one supermarket in your local town.
a) Introduction
Good morning sir / madam .i am a student at mandevere college carrying out a survey to
investigate the sphere of influence of OK supermarket. Could you please spare a few mins to
answer some questions . This information will be treated with confidentiality.
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b) Personal Information
Tick in the box
1. Sex F M
Conclusion : thank you very much for your time and have a good
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b) Unstructured interviews take the form of a conversation where the interviewer has no
predetermined questions.
- Interview of a more structured variety may allow the interviewer to probe the respondents’
answers so they can, if necessary, be classified. The interviewer may also be allowed to
prompt the interviewee.
Advantages
Can utilize large samples so that generalizations are justified compared to the participatory
observation.
Concepts and words used by the interviewer and respondent can be clarified.
One is able to cover many dimensions as possible and as many people as resources permit.
More flexible than other research methods.
Disadvantages
2. Look for anomalies i.e. data which does not fit into the relationships
Accept or reject the hypothesis : use data / statistics to support the conclusion.
Some investigations may show several anomalies , conclusions made should reveal the anomalies.
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HOW TO IMPROVE THE INVESTIGATION
After students discover weaknesses in their investigations there is need to improve the dadta collection
processes. An anomalous result may suggest that there was student error e..g. inaccurate reading of the
measuring cylinder or improper timing of floats when measuring river velocity.
Use of digital measuring equipment e.g. a flow meter in measuring river velocity would
eliminate errors.
Repeating measurements several times may improve the reliability of results where averages
are used.
More sites may be selected or the frequency of the investigation may be increased.
Conducting investigation in a different season.
More students should participate in the investigation or a particular activity.
Conducting a pilot survey also improves the investigation.
Another hypothesis about the same topic may be suggested which could be used to widen the
study
A wide variety of graphical techniques can be used to present geographical data. There is need to
choose the best type of graph for a particular data set under consideration.
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Construction steps:
-draw a circle
Total 1
-shade in
Bar graphs
These are charts or diagrams in which figures are represented by the length of the bar. Bars are drawn
proportional in height to the value they are representing.
Data is represented by a series of bars, the height of each bar indicating the size of the figure
represented.
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Construction steps:
-label the axes (the variable on the vertical axis and the independent on the horizontal axis)
These are ordinary bars which are divided into components parts.
Construction steps:
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-put an informative key
The component figures are represented as separate bars adjoining each other
Construction steps :
-group the bars for each independent phenomenon (Low income, Lower middle income, Upper middle
income )
.profit or loss
Construction steps :
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-obtain the data
-draw the axes(with the horizontal axis half way up or down the vertical axis)
-label the vertical axis such that the positive values are above zero and the negative below
zero
Advantages :
Disadvantages
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-overlapping
LINE GRAPHS
Consists of only one line and shows the relationship between one aspect e.g. temperature
Construction Procedure
-select suitable scales for both the vertical and horizontal axes and label accordingly.
These consist of more than one line each representing one aspect ,the lines are drawn on one graph.
The lines are useful for showing the relationships between various groups of data and for making
comparisons
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Scattergram / scatter graph
-where there are two variables one is allocated to the X-axis and the other to the Y-axis
Construction steps:
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-draw the regression line or best fit line to show the general trend of dots
a.Positive correlation
this is a situation where all values increase e.g. increase in precipitation leads to increase in river
discharge
Rainfall
(mm)
50 X x X X
40 X X X X
30 X X X X
20 X X
10 X
0 2 4 6 8 10
Discharge (m 3)
b. Negative correlation
This is a situation whereby as one value rises the other value decreases e.g. as average income
increases infant mortality decreases.
Infant x
mortality 30 x x x
per1000 x x x
20 x x
Income (U S $)
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c. No correlation
Points are scattered and no best fit line can be drawn e.g. there is no link between earthquake
magnitude and number of deaths
200 x
Number 150 x x
of 100 x x
deaths 5O x x
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Magnitude of earthquake
Triangular Graph
-shows the relationship between three variables e.g. issues pertaining to:
. the three industrial sectors-Primary, Secondary, Tertiary ( employment ,production); the three
population groups (Youthful, Adults, Aged)
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-there are three axes drawn as a triangle
-values of the three variables are successively recorded around the perimeter of the triangle
-to read a coordinate ,carefully identify which axis you are using(the line opposite the 100%
-at any one point on the graph the %s of the three variables add up to 100
-there are zones where the values of each variable are greater than the sum of the other
-at the centre of the graph there is a point where all the three variables have equal values of
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-the points at the centre have fairly equal values of the three variable
-analysis of information obtained from traffic or pedestrian counts can be used by town planning
authorities to solve problems of congestion among others.
Flow Diagrams
-used to show the movement/flow from place to place of items e.g. traffic, people or items
that are being moved e.g. goods / petroleum from area of production to market, sewage
.quantities passing through a series of check points where counts are made or rates of flow
.quantities passing along a given route in a particular time e.g. bus service, telephone calls
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How to prepare for carrying out the traffic count
TYPES OF TRANSPORT
-recruit a team to assist with the investigation for it is not possible to do such a task alone
-conduct a pilot survey to test all the survey tools and ensure the success of the survey
-here you count different types of vehicles during different times of the day
Hypothesis 2. The volume of traffic varies with distance from the city centre .
-count the number of vehicles at different sites from the city centre.
-once the hypothesis has been formulated the actual counting begins
.counts are done at fixed time intervals, this enables comparison of the number of vehicles for specific
times
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.tallies are used and then totals are given at the end
The information collected can be portrayed as a flow line map or diagram as shown above
.flow line maps are used to show the volume (quantity) of anything (vehicles, pedestrians, fuel)that
moves along a specific route.
.a line is drawn along the road or from a country of origin to a country of destination. The line should be
proportional in width to the volume of flow.
.obtain a base map of the area concerned showing the routes along which the movements are taking
place
.examine the range of data and decide on the scale of width e.g. 1mm to 50 cars per hour, where the
width remains too large adjust using a constant e.g. square root
-mark out points of related widths on either side of the line/road using a pair of dividers
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-show direction of flow
-provide a descriptive title (e.g. Flow Line Diagram Showing Traffic Flow In and Out Of a
Town)
Advantages
-can help to identify points where there are problems of movement e,g, traffic congestion ,
-visually impressive
-quantitative in nature
Disadvantages
-direct proportionality is lost where scale is calculated using the square root(e.g square root
of 100 is 10 represented by 1cm whereas the square root of 25 is 5 represented by 0.5 cm)
-drawing of parallel ‘double- track’ flow lines that remain parallel to each other along curves
is difficult
-choice of scale can be difficult if the volumes involved are too big
.parkades
. by-pass roads
. .traffic lights ,give ways, stop signs and round abouts at intersections
.cycle tracks
.foot bridges
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Sphere Of Influence /Catchment Area: Of A Shopping Centre
>Can be determined by
-determining the distance a postman from the local post office travels delivering letters
-finding out how far a local shop delivers goods (bread, furniture e.t.c......)
Construction Steps
Shopping centre
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-provide a scale for the map
Questionnaire Survey
-a survey is an outdoor investigation for collection of data on people e.g. age, income e.t.c.
-a questionnaire is a set of questions designed to find out people’s opinions about something or their
behavior.
.closed questions: these questions allow the respondent to quickly tick an appropriate box for the
response chosen
.open questions: these require short answers from the respondent and are quite helpful in
investigations
Layout of a questionnaire
-it indicates in brief who is administering the questionnaire and why he or she is doing it
QUESTION : Design a questionnaire which you would use to collect information about the impact of
visitors on Kyle Recreational Park. Your questionnaire should address the following :
1. Source of visitors.
SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE
QUESTIONNAIRE No ___________________________________________________________
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Introduction :
1. Personal Details
21 - 35 years
36 – 50 years
51 – 65 years
Above 65 years
3. How did you travel to the park ? (Please tick the appropriate box )
Other (specify)……………………………………………………………………………………..
4. How often do you visit the park ? ( tick the appropriate box )
5. Please indicate the activities that you engage in during your stay at the park. (You may tick more than
one box )
Walking
Picnicking
Cycling
Mountain climbing
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6. For how long do you stay at the park per visit? (Tick the appropriate box)
Half a day
One day
2-3 days
A week
Other (specify)……………………………………………………………………………………………..
7. To what extent do you think that visitors create the following at Kyle Recreational Park ? (Please circle
the most appropriate response on each ; 0- not at all, 5- very significant )
Parking problems 0 1 2 3 4 5
Litter 0 1 2 3 4 5
Employment opportunities 0 1 2 3 4 5
Bipolar survey
This is useful for assessing environmental quality. The environment includes physical environment and
man made environment. The environment can easily be spoilt or destroyed by our actions. We can use
environmental quality surveys to try and identify problems or damage on the environment.
Environmental quality is recorded by a scoring system. Here a score of 5 is the maximum possible for the
best environmental conditions. The minimum score is 1.
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Investigating the environmental quality of a town’s different residential areas
Choose an appropriate number of survey sites. Decide where the survey sites should be located. They
might be along a transect from the town centre to the outskirts of the town. Or they might be chosen
according to known differences in age and perceived differences in quality of town’s residential areas.
Select which characteristics of the environment to measure as indicators of environmental quality eg
house exteriors, roads and pavements, litter, noise etc. Decide on the range of scores to use eg
0 1 2 3
Very low quality of house exteriors Excellent quality of house exteriors
Very low quality roads Very high quality roads
A lot of litter No litter
Prepare an environmental quality reference sheet to use as a guide to what each score for each
characteristic represents. Prepare a recording sheet for use in the field. Decide on the time of the survey
and how many students will go to each site.
At the site each student in the group should use the environmental quality reference sheet to determine
and record a score for each characteristic. Then an average score is obtained from ratings given by each
member of the group. After the scores for each characteristic have been noted on the recording sheet,
they should be totaled to give an overall environmental quality score that can be compared with those
for other areas. It is then possible to rank the survey sites according to their scores. The place with the
highest score is perceived to have the highest quality environment.
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