Lesson video

Hello, I am Chloe and I'm a geography field studies tutor.

This lesson, which is part of the fieldwork unit of work, is all about how we evaluate geographical inquiries.

We've got a lot of learning to do, so let's get on with it.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the different stages of a geographical inquiry.

There's quite a few keywords today, so let's review those now.

Objective data is data that is considered to be factual.

Subjective data, on the other hand, is data that is based on opinions.

If data is reliable, it means that it shows that the same result would be collected in a comparably similar occasion.

And if the data is valid, it means that that data allows the geographer to answer their inquiry question successfully.

And anomaly is a piece of data that sits outside the general trend.

The three parts to today's lesson, first of all, we're going to answer the question, which stages of a fieldwork inquiry are evaluated? We're then going to look at how geographers evaluate their conclusions.

And finally, we're going to think about how we can evaluate our fieldwork from an ethical or moral standpoint.

Let's begin with the first one.

Which stages of a fieldwork inquiry are evaluated? The evaluation stage of a geographical inquiry is an opportunity for geographers to reflect on three different things.

First of all, the quality and the appropriateness of the methods and techniques and approaches that they've used.

That could be in their data collection, in their data presentation, and in their data analysis.

They'll also look at the quality of the data itself and how helpful it was to form a conclusion.

And finally, they think about how they might improve the study and how would they might extend it to try and expand knowledge and understanding.

All the preceding stages of the inquiry process should be evaluated, not just the data collection stage.

All of the stages of the inquiry.

Carrying out a geographical inquiry is never going to be a perfect experience.

There could be many factors that affect the data that are out of your control.

Practical considerations such as the weather or the amount of time you had, have, will affect the outcomes of the inquiry.

But what's important is that geographers are transparent about these issues.

A good geographer can identify problems in their inquiry and discuss how these have affected their results, as well as how similar problems might be avoided in the future.

So let's check our understanding on that so far.

True or false? Highlighting the flaws in a geographical inquiry is a sign of a poor geographer.

Is that true or false? It's false.

Now, why is that not true? Yes, so a good geographer is able to identify problems in their inquiry and discuss how these have affected their results.

They don't hide away from the flaws.

So Lucas is highlighting some of the questions he will reflect upon when he evaluates his data collection techniques.

Let's look at some of the questions he's asking of himself.

First of all, he's saying, "Did I collect enough data?" He's thinking about his sampling strategy.

Was it the most appropriate one that he could have used? Did the weather or the time of day affect the results that he got? And how might human error have affected his results? These are some really important key questions which he's going to use in his evaluation.

He'll also look at whether his data was a good balance between objective data, that which is fact-based, and subjective data that which is opinion-based.

Now, there's nothing wrong with either type of data, but a study which is mostly objective and fact-based will lose some of the tone and distinction that makes the subject matter interesting.

Equally, if you have a study that is mostly subjective data and full of opinions, it's not really as conclusive, because it only relies on people's personal viewpoints.

So complete sentences with the missing words.

Have a read of this paragraph.

See if you can find the missing words, which will make it make sense.

Pause the video if you need to.

Okay, let's look at these.

So when evaluating the data collection stage, geographers can reflect on the amount of data they've collected and whether their sampling strategy was appropriate.

They can also think about whether human error may have affected their data.

Now, Laura has collected the following data.

She's collected opinions about flood defences from members of the public.

She's conducted an attractiveness score survey of the flood defences, and she completed this herself.

And then she's done a field sketch of the flood defences, and she's put annotations on about what she likes and dislikes about them.

Considering the type of data that she's collected.

What issue would you expect Laura to comment on in her evaluation? Look quite carefully at the three bits of data that she's collected.

Are they all the same type of data or is there variety? Have a think, and I'll come back to you in a moment.

Well done if you recognised that although the three bits of data are different, all of Laura's data is subjective.

In her evaluation, she should say that if she were to do the inquiry again, she would think about maybe gaining some more objective data to kind of readdress the balance.

Okay, we're moving on to the second part of this lesson, and that's how do geographers evaluate their conclusions? There's a key question that geographers ask themselves when they reflect on their conclusion.

"Did my data and the way it was presented and analysed allow me to see patterns and relationships that I would not have otherwise been able to see?" It's quite a complicated question, but it's a really essential one.

What it basically means is, "Did my inquiry actually give me more information than I knew at the beginning?" It means that geographers need to think about the value their inquiry has added to their knowledge and understanding of the topic and of their field site.

Otherwise, there wasn't much point in doing the inquiry at all.

One way that geographers do this is to think about whether their data is reliable and valid.

So Andeep has collected some beach sediment data, and he found the mean length of the sediment in his sample to be 36 millimetres.

He repeated the method on a further two days.

On the second day, the mean length was 34 millimetres, and on the third day, it was 38 millimetres.

This means that Andeep's data is reliable.

He's used the same method on different days, and he's got pretty much the same results over the three days.

So we know that data is reliable.

Sofia wanted to find out what features people liked and disliked about her local town.

She carried out a questionnaire on members of the public.

Her end data was a list of features where there was a positive consensus and a list of features where there was negative consensus.

So a list of things that people liked and a list of things that people didn't like.

Sofia's data is valid, because it has allowed her to answer her inquiry question about which features people liked and disliked.

What she set out to do was to find out what people liked and disliked about the town, and that questionnaire has enabled her to do that.

So we would say that her data is valid.

Let's check your understanding.

Why is reliable data important? Is it A, because it shows that it can be trusted to form a conclusion.

B, it shows that hypotheses are true, or C, it shows that there was no human error.

Well done if you've got A, yes, it shows that it can be trusted to form a conclusion, it is totally reliable.

Geographers also look closely at anomalies when they're making conclusions.

Look at this graph carefully.

Which piece of data would count as an anomaly in this set? Well done if you spotted this one.

It's lying quite far away from the line of best fit.

There are many reasons why a piece of data may appear to be an anomaly.

It could be it was collected in different conditions to the rest of the data.

It could be there was some kind of human error in the way this data was collected and recorded.

It could be that that piece of data was collected using some faulty equipment.

It's important to remember that geographers are not scientists.

Now, scientists deal with highly controlled experiments, and therefore they get very clean results.

But geographers, we deal with a messy world and often that world does not really behave how we might expect it to.

Therefore, when geographers see anomalous data, they do not automatically assume that it's due to human error or due to faulty equipment.

Instead, they ask, "What real world geographical variables might have made this piece of data different to the others?" In other words, they try to find the geographical reason for an anomaly rather than just assuming that it's because of human error or equipment error.

Geographers recognise that they do not collect data with all possible variables and influences in mind.

The way they collect data is a bit like taking a photograph.

It only captures a very quick snapshot in time, so it will never tell the whole story of what is happening in a place geographically.

And it really, this is what makes geography fieldwork so brilliant.

It opens our minds to understand a little bit more about something, but it also means it helps us to answer and ask new questions as well.

So let's do a quick check on our understanding on that.

How do geographers think about anomalous data? They assume it's caused by human error.

They just ignore it.

They try to find geographical ideas to explain it.

Or they alter it so it fits the pattern? Which one is true? Yes, well done.

C, they try to find geographical ideas to explain it.

They definitely do not try to alter it to fit a pattern.

They definitely don't ignore it.

It might be that it's due to human error, but first of all, they're gonna try and find geographical ideas to explain it.

Let's move on to our next practise task.

Look at this graph and circle the piece of data that appears to be an anomaly.

Let's just look at what we've got going on here.

We've got a bar chart that's showing the time that's taken for water to infiltrate into the ground at five different sites.

So we've got the infiltration time in seconds along the y-axis, and then we've got bars representing the time it takes for the five different sites.

So one of those is an anomaly.

Write three reasons why this data might be anomalous.

Pause the video, have a think about this, and maybe have a chat with somebody else and see what you come up with.

Okay, let's first look at seeing which piece of data is an anomaly, and I think we can all see that it's site four.

It's much, much shorter than the others, so it's taken almost no time at all for the water to infiltrate there compared to the other five sites.

So let's look at the three reasons why this data might have been anomalous.

Some of these might be in your answer.

It could have been collected on a different day at site four, and that means that there could been different weather conditions beforehand, which would've affected how quickly the water would've infiltrated.

It could be that site four is in a completely different place and therefore the ground surface is completely different, and that would've affected the infiltration rate.

Or it could be that there was some fault there.

So it could be that there was a stopwatch that wasn't quite right, or it could be that there wasn't the same volume of water or something like that.

So the equipment wasn't identical at site four compared to the other four sites.

Let's move on to the final part of today's lesson, which is about how fieldwork is evaluated ethically and morally.

As well as evaluating the stages of the fieldwork inquiry, geographers should also take a step away from the data to look at their research in a wider context.

Ethical and moral considerations are a big part of geography fieldwork.

These are considerations that make sure that the people and the places that are being investigated are treated fairly and respectfully.

Many of these considerations are made in the planning stage, but they're also evaluated at the end of the inquiry.

When you consider how the inquiry may have affected people, a geographer might ask, "Have participants' identities been made anonymous? How did the data collection methods make sure that members of the public remained safe? How did the data collection methods make sure that everyone's enjoyment of the place was not taken away? Were any leading questions used or how were these avoided?" Izzy is asking members of the public for responses to a questionnaire.

What ethical and moral considerations might she have to make? Will she have to ensure she gets a large sample size? Will she have to ensure that the respondents' names are not recorded? Will she have to make sure that she's not asking leading questions? And will she have to make sure that everybody she asks completes the questionnaire? Have a think about these.

It's not as simple as it might seem.

Which ethical and moral considerations might she have to make? So, well done if you've recognised that there's actually two answers that are correct here.

First of all, she'd have to make sure that the names that she takes as part of the questionnaire are not recorded, that she doesn't write them down in any way.

She's also gonna have to make sure that she's not asking leading questions.

Now for A, that she gets a large sample size, now that's a really good idea to have as part of her planning of her data collection, but it's not to do with the ethical and moral sides of things.

That's to make sure that her data is reliable and valid.

Geographers also ensure that their inquiry does not have a negative impact on the place that they are visiting.

The geographer might ask questions like, "How did the data collection methods minimise noise? How did the data collection methods preserve any sensitive ecology? How did the data collection methods minimise erosion and damaged soil? And was permission for access acquired from the landowner first?" Another check on what we've learned so far.

Complete the sentences with the missing words.

Have a read through the paragraph below, and then try to decide which words need to go into the gaps.

Pause the video if you need to.

So geographers should reflect on the ethical and moral considerations within their inquiry.

This could mean they're looking at the potential for their inquiry to have a negative impact on the landscape.

For example, geographers need to minimise the amount of noise they make so they do not disturb the wildlife.

I hope you managed to get those three.

Our final task of today.

Sam is planning a visit to a river to collect water pollution data.

Write a list of five rules that Sam would need to follow to show that she's considering the ethical and moral aspects of her inquiry.

There are lots of rules that you could come up with.

Just try and find five.

You're probably gonna want to pause the video and have a really good think about what it would mean to go to a river, collect water pollution data and so on, and then try to come up with those five rules.

So let's look at some of the things that Sam could do to make her fieldwork ethically and morally sound.

There's lots of them.

You might have some of these.

Let's have a look.

So things like keeping noise to a minimum, not dropping any litter.

She's definitely going to need to get permission from landowners to get access to the river itself.

When she's taking the water samples, she wants to make sure she's only taking the minimum amount that she needs.

There's gonna be local ecology that might be affected if she takes too much water.

Once she's finished with the water samples, she needs to return them to the same place where she got them from.

And as far as she can possibly, not entering the river itself, because it, as I say, there's gonna likely to be some ecology there, which could potentially be harmed by her actually entering the river.

We've covered a lot today.

Let's have a look at a summary of our learning.

All the stages of a geographical inquiry can be evaluated, and particular approaches are used for each stage.

Conclusions should be evaluated to show how reliable and valid the data is, as this will have an impact on the strength of the conclusions made.

Geographical research is often evaluated in terms of the actions that were taken to make it ethically and morally considerate to both people and the local environment.

Well done, everybody.

That wasn't always easy.

There were some quite difficult concepts in there throughout the lesson.