Urban Fieldwork (OCR GCSE Geography B (Geography for Enquiring Minds)): Revision Notes

Urban Fieldwork

What is urban fieldwork?

Urban fieldwork is a practical geographical investigation where you collect and analyse data about urban areas. This helps you understand real-world urban geography and develop your enquiry skills. All fieldwork enquiries must be carefully planned and structured to produce valid and reliable results.

Planning an urban fieldwork enquiry

A successful urban fieldwork investigation follows a clear structure with several key stages:

Stage 1: Develop your question or hypothesis Begin by creating a clear research question or forming a testable hypothesis. This gives your investigation focus and direction. For example, "Does environmental quality decrease as distance from the CBD increases?"

Stage 2: Select appropriate fieldwork methods Choose the most suitable techniques to collect data that will help answer your question. Different methods work better for different types of investigation. You may need to use multiple methods to gather comprehensive evidence.

Stage 3: Process and present data Once collected, organise your data clearly using appropriate presentation methods. This includes creating maps, graphs, diagrams and tables that make patterns and trends visible.

Stage 4: Analyse and explain data Examine the data you have collected and explain what it shows. Look for patterns, trends, anomalies and relationships. Link your findings back to geographical theory and concepts.

Stage 5: Draw conclusions Use the evidence from your analysis to answer your original question or test your hypothesis. Make sure your conclusions are supported by the data you collected.

Stage 6: Reflect and evaluate Consider the strengths and limitations of your investigation. Think about how your methods could be improved and what you would do differently next time. Were there any problems with data collection? How reliable were your results?

Urban fieldwork methods

There are several different techniques you can use to investigate urban areas. Each method has particular strengths and is suited to different types of investigation.

Urban role play

This involves observing an area from the perspective of different types of people. For example, you might consider how the same street appears to a parent with young children, an elderly person, or a teenager. This helps you understand how different groups experience and use urban spaces.

Annotated sketch or photo

Create a detailed sketch of an urban area or take a photograph, then add labels and annotations to identify key features. This method is excellent for recording the visual character of a place and noting specific geographical features.

Environmental quality survey

This systematic method involves assessing different aspects of the urban environment and giving each one a score. You evaluate features using a scoring scale to measure environmental quality objectively.

The environmental quality survey uses a bipolar scale, typically ranging from +2 to -2. You assess multiple characteristics such as:

• General features: Is the place vibrant and interesting or empty and uninteresting? Are there natural features present? Does it feel safe and busy or unsafe and quiet? Is the environment clean or dirty?
• Building characteristics: Are buildings well designed or poorly designed? Are they in good condition or poor condition? Are buildings spacious or cramped? Is there vandalism present?

For each characteristic, you place a mark on the scale that best represents what you observe. The overall score gives you a measure of environmental quality which can be compared between different locations.

Questionnaire

A questionnaire involves asking people about their experiences, opinions and behaviours related to the urban area. This primary data collection method provides valuable qualitative information about how people perceive and use urban spaces. Questions should be carefully designed to avoid bias and gather useful information.

Traffic and pedestrian survey

This involves counting the number of vehicles or pedestrians passing a specific point over a set time period. Traffic counts help you understand patterns of movement and can show how busy different areas are at different times. Results are often presented as flow maps or line graphs showing changes over time.

Land-use mapping

Create an outline map showing how different areas are being used, such as residential, commercial, industrial or recreational purposes. You can use different colours or patterns to represent different land uses. This provides a clear visual summary of urban land use patterns and can show how these change across the urban area.

Primary and secondary data

Understanding the difference between these two types of data is essential for conducting effective fieldwork.

Primary data

Primary data is information you collect yourself through direct fieldwork activities. Examples include:

• Survey results you personally record
• Sketches you draw in the field
• Photographs you take
• Maps you create
• Questionnaire responses you gather
• Traffic counts you conduct

The key advantage of primary data is that you can collect exactly the information you need for your specific investigation. However, it can be time-consuming to gather and may be limited to a small sample size.

Secondary data

Secondary data is information that already exists, collected by someone else for another purpose. You obtain this from sources such as:

• Internet websites
• Newspapers and magazines
• Books and journals
• Census data
• Government statistics
• Historical maps and photographs

Secondary data is often quicker to obtain and may cover larger areas or longer time periods than you could investigate yourself. However, it may not be exactly what you need, and you must check that it is reliable and up-to-date.

Investigating urban change

Urban change is an important topic for fieldwork investigation. You can explore various questions about how urban areas are changing over time.

Example questions and hypotheses

Questions you might investigate include:

• "How is the population of the urban area changing?"
• "Why is land use in the urban area changing?"
• "How is the urban area becoming more sustainable?"

You could also form hypotheses such as:

• "The proportion of ethnic minorities in the urban area is increasing"
• "Land use in the urban area is changing because more housing is needed"
• "Transport improvements are making the urban area more sustainable"

Collecting data about urban change

To investigate urban change effectively, you need to combine both primary and secondary data.

Primary data collection: Current population data can be collected through fieldwork surveys. One method involves using a tally system to record the ethnicity of people passing by a location.

The survey method shown involves:

• Selecting a location in the urban area
• Counting people from different ethnic groups as they pass
• Using tally marks to record up to 100 people
• Converting the tallies into percentages for analysis
• Categorising people into groups such as White, Asian, Black, Chinese, and Mixed race

This provides current data about the population composition of the area.

Secondary data: Historical data about population comes from sources like census records. This allows you to compare current data with past data to identify changes over time.

By comparing your primary data (current observations) with secondary data (historical census figures), you can identify trends and patterns in population change. For example, you might discover that the proportion of certain ethnic groups has increased or decreased over time.

Exam guidance for fieldwork

When answering exam questions about urban fieldwork, you need to demonstrate clear understanding of methods and their application.

Describe questions: Provide specific details about fieldwork methods, including equipment used, sampling strategies, and data recording techniques. Don't just name the method – explain how it works.

Explain questions: Link your fieldwork methods to geographical concepts and theory. Explain why you chose particular methods and how they help answer your research question.

Evaluate questions: Discuss both strengths and limitations of methods. Consider reliability, accuracy, sample size, time constraints, and potential sources of bias or error.

Assess questions: Make judgements about the effectiveness of fieldwork approaches. Support your points with specific examples and consider alternative approaches.