Completing fieldwork

Question 1

What is random sampling?

Answer 1

Where samples are chosen at random eg. Picking pebbles on a beach

Question 2

What is systematic sampling?

Answer 2

Where samples are chosen at regular intervals - this is useful in places where what you want to investigate changes frequently eg. The numbers of pedestrians in an area

Question 3

What is stratified sampling?

Answer 3

Where you choose samples from different groups to get a good overall representation.
This type of sampling is useful if you need to collect people’s perceptions eg. Of pollution in their area, and need to ask people of different ages.

Question 4

What is quantitative data?

Answer 4

Numerical data.
It’s based on things you can measure.

Question 5

What is qualitative data?

Answer 5

Based on information that can’t be measured.
Eg. What residents think about quality of life in their area.

Question 6

How to carry out a risk assessment?

Answer 6

Identify the specific risks at the site.
Give them a risk rating up to 10 (where 10 is the most severe)
Write down how they can be managed.

Question 7

How to evaluate your fieldwork?

Answer 7

Identify any problems with the methods used and suggest how they could be improved.
Eg. The size of the data sets, any bias, any more appropriate or more effective methods.
Describe how accurate the results are - any anomalies or errors?
Comment on the validity of your conclusion.

Question 8

Advantages and disadvantages of line charts.

Answer 8

Pros: comparisons can easily be made with similar graphs.
Easily understandable.
Easily shows general trends/patterns.
Displays continuous data
Cons: can be time consuming to complete by hand.
Can be difficult to read accurately.
Difficult to show patterns if the data is too variable.

Question 9

Advantages and disadvantages of bar graphs?

Answer 9

Pros: anomalies are clear,
They uses discrete data (separate pieces of informations)
Easy to read
Can be used for many purposes.
Cons: can be time consuming to complete by hand.
Can be difficult to represent data that shows a large range

Question 10

Advantages and disadvantages of pie charts?

Answer 10

Pros: allows fraction and percentage comparisons.
Visual graph - easy to compare with others.
Easily understood.
Cons: difficult to represent specific data.
Can only represent one point at a time.
May not be accurate - especially if plotted by hand.

Question 11

Advantages and disadvantages of radial graphs

Answer 11

Pros: visually appealing.
Can represent multiple sets of data.
Cons: difficult to represent large data sets.
Less efficient.