Urban Fieldwork - methods of data collection Flashcards
(61 cards)
1
Q
What was the investigation title?
A
What is public opinion of the proposed regeneration projection in North street, Guildford, and how does environmental quality vary across the site?
2
Q
What was the investigation aim?
A
To investigate public opinion on the proposed regeneration of the North Street area of Guildford Twon centre, and to assess environmental quality across the site
3
Q
What is regeneration?
A
The proces through which old areas of towns and cities (usually thr core/inner city) are improved and brought back to life
4
Q
How does regeneration trigger a ‘positive multiplier effect?
A
once an area has been improved, it’s hoped that new residents are businesses are attracted there to build their own offices and live there etc, improving the area further, and bringing more people there
5
Q
What is urban re-imaging?
A
Creating a new brand for a place to give it a fresh appealing image to the public
6
Q
Positive multiplier effect
A
When one process or input leads to a positive effect beyond itself
7
Q
Stakeholder definition
A
A group or organisation that would be interested in the project
8
Q
What were the 2 hypotheses identified?
A
- The public are supportive of the proposed regeneration project in North Street, Guildford
- Environmental quality will vary spatially across the site of the proposed North Streets regeneration project
9
Q
Describe the general location of Guildford within a regional and national context
A
- town in Guildford borough Surrey
- south-east England
- 40Km sotuth west of London
- 60Km north of Portsmouth
10
Q
How big is the North Street regeneration site?
A
2.5 hectares
11
Q
Name the two groups that are collaborating on the regeneration project
A
Guildford borough council and St Edward’s property developers
12
Q
Why was the location suitable for our enquiry?
A
- 20 min walk from our school
- easily accessible by public footpaths = reduces the travel time and increase time we had for data collection at site
- site is also bisected at Woodford road, which allows easy access throughout the whole regeneration site for thorough and easy data collection
13
Q
Primary vs secondary data
A
Primary data is collected firsthand by a researcher to address a specific research question, while secondary data is information already gathered by others
14
Q
When was primary data collected, and what were the weather conditions like? How did these affect out results?
A
- Tuesday 8th October, 2024 between 9am and 1pm
- weather conditions = extremely poor - rainy and cold
- this meant that there were less people around, and poor weather may also skew our impression of EQ around the site
15
Q
What primary and secondary data sources were used?
A
- primary = environmental quality survey (EQS), structured questionnaire and annotated photographs
- secondary = consultation report from St Edward’s property developers, Guildford 2021 census data
16
Q
What were the roads on the site? Describe the site by sketch mapping
A
- roads = north street, Leapale road, Woodbridge road, commercial road
- sketch mapping = go to OneNote and practice drawing out diagram
17
Q
Name the four risks that were managed
A
- traffic
- members of the public
- weather conditions
- paving + kerbstones
18
Q
How was the traffic risk managed?
A
- Traffic risk of being run over and then injured or killed
- managed = using crossing points (zebra + pelican crossings) and applying the green cross code when crossing roads
19
Q
How was the members of the public risk managed?
A
- risk = assault, abduction, mugging
- managed = groups to have a minimum of 6 pupils at all times, teachers spread across site to monitor, valuables kept away from site
20
Q
How was the weather conditions risk managed?
A
- risk = exposure , hypothermia
- managed = check weather forecast before leaving for fieldwork and packing appropriately (e.g wearing waterproofs in event of rain)
21
Q
How was the kerbs and paving stones risk managed?
A
- risk = trips and falls leading to cuts, bruises, broken limbs
- managed = wear appropriate footwear, walk rather than run, watch pavements for loose slabs
22
Q
Name and define the types of sampling
A
- random sampling - every individual is equally likely to be selected for measurement
- systematic sampling- measurements are taken at regular intervals within the population
- stratified sampling- can be used when an overall population can be split into sub- groups; a proportionate number of measurements taken from each group
23
Q
Explain the sampling strategy used in EQS survey
A
- systematic sampling strategy = sites were picked at regular intervals of 50m along the roads on the site
- EQS measurements taken at 10 points = sample size of 10
24
Q
Advantages and disadvantages of systematic sampling for EQS survey - how can u improve this?
A
- ADVANTAGES = ensures that sample covers whole site so its more representative of the full study area, removes potential bias by e.g omitting sites of worse EQ, quick and easy to apply in field
- DISADVANTAGES = 50m gaps between the point may be too large, meaning that important points of EQ are unintentionally omitted
- improvement = reduce gap between measurement points = finer resolution coverage within study area
25
Evaluation of sample size for EQS
- sample size of 10 is small enough for it to be practical to achieve in given time period of 2-3 hours
- site size of 2.5 hectares = sample size is large enough to provide good coverage of site without large gaps
- large enough to identify any anomalous results that may not fit overall trend
26
Name the EQS categories and briefly describe scoring system
- Litter, upkeep of buildings, noise, green space, volume of traffic, graffiti, vandalism
- each site assigned a score between 7-35 total with each of 7 categories given a score between 1 and 5
27
What type of data was in the EQS?
Quantitative due to numerical scoring system of each site
28
Define accuracy
The degree to which measurements are close to the true value of
29
Factors increasing quality in EQS
- pilot study = practise using the scoring system helped standardise application to a degree
- systematic sampling strategy with 50m intervals between measurement points ensures good coverage of whole North Street regeneration site = more representative + accurate data collected
30
Factors limiting accuracy in EQS
- EQS measurements are subjective - with many people in our class conducting the EQS, scores will vary depending on who took them
- 50m gaps between measuring points = could have missed important sites of environmental quality within North Street site = less representative of whole site
31
Two possible improvements to EQS to increase accuracy
- use less subjective categories for some environmental categories (e.g use of a decibel-meter to measure noise levels of sites relative to each other)
- reduce impact of people’s subjectivity by taking a mean of 3 people’s EQS scores
32
Define reliability
The repeat-ability of results - if they were taken again, would you get the same results?
33
Factors affecting reliability of EQS scale
- daily scale = EQ may be worse at rush hours, get progressively worse throughout day as litter increases
- weekly scale = worse on weekends as there are more people = more litter + noise
- seasonal timescale = worse in holidays as more ppl = more litter + noise
- longer = as regeneration project progresses, EQ may decrease and then increase once completed
34
Possible improvements for reliability of EQS
Repeat measurements at varying times (e.g in afternoon and evening) and take a mean of 3 results
35
what sampling strategy was used in the structured questionnaire? how was this done?
- stratified sampling strategy used to select respondents
- secondary data from the office of national statistics was used to provide information on the demographic of guildford
- using sampling size of 50, we could choose our respondents in a fashion that mimicked Guildford's demographic
36
demographic of guildford
- 50% females
- 50% male
- 24% aged 0-19
- 30% aged 20-39
- 24% aged 40-59
- 18% aged 60-79
- 4% aged 80+
37
limitations of structured questionnaire
- timing of questionnaire (11 am to 12) , it was very hard to find respondents in 0-19 category as they are at school= asked more people aged 20-39 as they were in town
- we hit our target sample size but the views of under 20 may be under-represented results will not be a fully accurate representation of public opinion or fully reliable
- weather was poor = not many people available to answer questionnaire + greater risk of sample not being representative
38
evaluation of sample size in structured questionnaire + possible improvements
- sample of 50 is small enough to be practical to achieve in time available for data collection (11-12), especially when distributed between many different fieldwork groups
- sample size of 50 is big enough to identify any outlying and anomalous responses can be easily identified and won't skew the overall dataset significantly
- IMPROVEMENTS = larger sample size would reduce likelihood of anomalous results skewing data , although data collection would take even longer
39
advantages of stratified sampling in structured questionnaire
- profile of questionnaire respondents mirrors the demographic profile of study area so opinions are more likely to be representative
- avoids problem of systematic or random selection of respondents which could perhaps come up with 50 90yr old women so unrepresentative
40
disadvantages of stratified sampling in structured questionnaire
- takes longer to implement that other sampling strategies as we need to research secondary + calculate proportions of respondents by age + gender
- can take longer to collect data as you must wait for respondents who fit desired age and gender proportions in order for reliable results
41
- pilot study = allows rephrase of ambiguous Q's so that answers aligned with aim
- length = 5 Q's in length - perfect length for respondents to answer quickly
- closed questions = quick, easy to understand Q's that generate quantitative data - easy for researcher to analyse + use
- likert scale = generates quantitative data abt ppl's attitudes towards subjects, which is otherwise quote hard to get in quantitative form
- open questions = allow respondents to have freedom in response express opinions better so one open ended Q was included
42
questionnaires - value + limitations in research
- VALUE = good way of finding public opinion + generate lots of quantitative data in short time periods (provided that closed questions were used)
- VALUE = this makes its suitable for graphs + statistical analysis
- LIMIT. = data collected is non-expert + shallow - based on handful of questions to ordinary ppl
- in order to gain deeper understanding = longer interviews with small numbers of experts such as CEO of St Edward's property developers
43
factors increasing accuracy of data collected by structured questionnaire
- use of pilot study = clearer questions that public could easily understand = lower chance of gaining irrelevant answers from respondents
- stratified sampling strategy = age + gender proportion of respondents mirrored local demographic - more representative
- sample size of 50 = easy to identify anomalous results so they will not skew data as much
44
factors decreasing accuracy of data collected by structured questionnaire
- seeking personal opinions about regeneration project = hard to tell if we are close to a 'true value'
- time of data collection (11-12am) = struggled to find respondents under 20 as they would be at skl - views of youth may be under-represented
- not all respondents were acc aware of the regeneration project, so answers may have been uninformed
45
factors affecting reliability of data collected by structured questionnaire
- short term scale = questionnaire responses reflect age of respondents, and diff age groups are out at diff times of the week, affecting proportion of age groups responding to questionnaire and so results collected
- long term scale = public opinion may vary at diff stages of regeneration e.g negative during construction but positive once completed
46
what sampling strategy was used for annotated photographs? explain?
- systematic sampling strategy used
- photos taken along regular intervals of 50m along the 3 roads that run along site
- these were same sites as those on EQS (where our primary data was collected)
- provide visual, qualitative representation of quantitative data from EQS
- sample size = 10
47
advantages of systematic sampling strategy when using annotated photos
- ensures photos are taken from all across the North Street regeneration site = more representative of study area
- removes potential bias of selection points
- quick and easy to apply in field so more time can be spent analysing
48
disadvantages of systematic sampling strategy when using annotated photographs + possible improvements
- with 50m gaps between measurement points, we may miss important elements of environmental quality that fall between points
- IMPROVREMENT = reduce gap between photograph points so there is finer resolution coverage within studdy area
49
evaluation of sample size of annotated photographs
- sample of 10 is small enough to be practical to achieve in given timespan for data collection
- given size of site (2.5ha) a sample size of 10 allows good coverage of whole site w/o major gaps
50
what was the process when collecting annotated photographs?
- at each point, a picture was taken using a smartphone camera
- date, time, location and orientation (using a compass app) were noted
- images were later annotated to highlight specific elements of EQ and features of regeneration project
51
factors increasing and decreasing accuracy of data collected from annotated photos + possible improvements
- INCREASING = provide an accurate record of the scene at the moment they were taken - nothing altered using photo editing software
- DECREASING = photos only taken on single orientation - some important areas of EQ on a point may be omitted
- DECREASING = some features of interest may be obscured by other objects - important bits not recorded
- IMPROVEMENT = take 4 pics at each location, one in each compass point, allowing for 360 degree representation of site
52
factors affecting reliability of data collected by annotated photos
- short term = elements within scene may vary if visited at diff time dates
- seasonal = elements of scene vary if we visit site in diff seasons e.g greenery higher in summer than winter
- long term = as regeneration project progresses, we would expect to see dramatic changes to the scene
53
possible improvements to increase reliability of annotated photographs
repeat photographs at same sites at diff times of day, week and year so we can observe EQ change over time
54
quantitative vs qualitative data
- QN generates statistics about subject of investigation
- QN easy to draw graphs of numerical data as analysis is more straightforward than qualitative data
- QN is less subjective than QL
- QL focuses on subject of investigation through words/images
- QL allows deeper description of public opinion
55
what were the two secondary data sources?
- St Edward's property developers North Street regeneration project consultation report
- 2021 Census data of guildford borough by office of national stats
56
what was the 2021 census data used for?
- quantitative data used to structure age + gender proportions of respondents in structured questionnaire to ensure representative public opinion of guildford's demographic
57
advantages + limitations of 2021 guildford census data
- A = Office of National Statistics is a large well-respected government agency so will produce trustworthy data
- A = it would have been impossible to collect this data ourselves as primary data as we don't have time or authority to do so
- A = data likely to be accurate representation of guildford demographic
- L = data is 4 years old from 2021 - unlikely to be completely accurate representation of 2024 guildford demographic
- L = data collected by OoNS is for whole of guildford borough including the town + surrounding areas = we only investigating opinion of guildford town residents - should use secondary data on just town so our stratified sampling was more representative
58
name some of the main findings from the St Edward's property developers consultation report
- the single biggest thing that people wanted to see improved was traffic flow within the town center, mentioned by 64% of respondents
- most positively-viewed aspects of the proposal were ideas for affordable homes, mentioned by 41% of respondents
- most negatively-aspect of the proposal were the plans for a new bus station, mentioned by 28%
59
advantages and limitations of the st edward's property developers consultation report as a secondary data source
- A = large sample size of 241 is much bigger than we could achieve - data is more likely to be more representative of public opinion
- A = QN + QL data made it easy to graph and analyse data + gain detailed insight into public opinion
- L = public opinion may have changed since 2023 as the regen project progresses - limits reliability
- L = main way of responding to survey was online, excludes those who don't have skills to respond in this way, or do not have online access (e.g elderly or less affluent) = not fully representative of public opinion
60
checklist for 8-mark familiar fieldwork questions
- 2-3 paras focusing on a different theme, e.g 3 types of primary data collection (EQS, structured questionnaire, annotated photographs)
- balance positive + negative evaluative points in ration of 2:1
- explain why the things u talk abt make method better or worse (e.g high/low effectiveness, more/less successful)
- include specific details (e.g use of likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree to generate quantitative data abt ppls opinions)
- include ideas for improvements after limitations were addressed
- short conc - do positives outweigh the negatives?
61
