Hi, my name is Chloe, and I'm a Geography Field Studies tutor.

This is the first lesson in a unit all about geographical field work.

And in this lesson, we're going to be thinking about how we choose a really great inquiry question and get the whole field work process started.

So let's begin.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to use research frameworks to create good inquiry questions.

There's gonna be a few key words we're going to be coming across today.

So let's review those now.

First of all, inquiry itself.

This is a way of learning new information about a place by following a set course of activities or tasks.

A hypothesis is a prediction you might make at the start of the inquiry, which is something that we can then test as the inquiry is taking place.

And finally, a research framework.

This is a type of geographical research on which the inquiry will focus.

So different types of inquiry will have different types of research frameworks.

Here's our outline of the lesson today.

First of all, we're gonna be looking at what a geographical fieldwork inquiry actually is, how it's structured.

Then we're going to be looking at what the features of a good inquiry question are, and finally we're gonna come back to those research frameworks and look in more detail about how they can help us form really great inquiry questions.

So let's begin with the first one of those.

So geographers frequently carry out inquiries to help them learn new information about a place.

But what makes it field work inquiry a bit more special, is that geographers actually visit the place that they are studying when they want to carry out that research.

So traditionally, there are six stages to a field work inquiry.

Let's go through those now.

So first of all, there's the question itself, the thing that you are trying to answer by doing the field work.

Then you go to the field itself, and you will measure and record data that will help you answer that question.

With that data, you can then present it.

You might use a map, you might use a graph, there's lots of techniques that you can use.

Once you've presented the data, you're going to need to analyse it.

You're gonna be looking for patterns in your data and trying to think a bit more deeply about what your data is trying to tell you.

Once you've analysed, you then need to conclude.

You actually try to answer the question that you set out to in the first place.

And then finally, coming back to the final stage, is you evaluate.

You think about the whole inquiry process that you've just taken.

And do you think about what would you improve, what would you do differently? And how that would impact the results that you got in your conclusion.

So let's check what we've learned so far.

Complete these sentences by filling in the missing words.

Have a read of the paragraph here and have a go at trying to find the missing words.

Pause the video if you need to.

Right, let's look at some of the answers here.

So in the data collection stage, geographers measure and record data that will help them answer their inquiry question.

In the evaluation stage, geographers think about how they carried out their fieldwork inquiry, and what they would change to improve the accuracy of their conclusions.

I hope you got those right.

Now, a hypothesis is a prediction made at the start of the inquiry that can then be tested.

So sometimes geographers use hypothesis to help them think a bit more deeply about their fieldwork inquiry.

A good hypothesis uses precise wording.

So there's no way that you could misunderstand what you are trying to carry out in terms of your field work.

A high good hypothesis is also answerable.

This means it can be proven or disproven.

So Andeep is researching how the size of pebbles at the beach varies from the shoreline, so that's the bit that's closest to the sea, to the back beach.

He uses a hypothesis to predict what he's going to find out.

Let's look at what he's gonna say.

So as we move from the shoreline to the back beach, the size of the pebbles will increase.

This is a really good hypothesis, because Andeep can use the data that he would collect during his field work to really easily prove or disprove this idea.

Let's check your understanding again.

So Laura is researching how noise levels might vary across a town.

There's two hypotheses she's come up with, let's see which one is the best one to use.

So first of all, A, the decibel level will decrease as the distance from the road junction increases.

Or her other hypothesis, the noise will be different as we move away from the road junction.

Thinking about what makes a good hypothesis, which one would you choose to be the better of these two? Pause the video if you need to have a think about it.

Right, how did you get on? So the correct answer is A, it uses much more precise language than the other one.

I can clearly see how Laura would go out into the field and actually collect data that would prove or disprove this idea.

Right, let's practise what we've learned so far.

Using the numbers one to six, place these stages of a field work inquiry in the correct order.

You can see you've got the six stages written there.

You just need to get them in the right order.

Your second task, which of the inquiry stages involves researchers measuring and recording data at the place they are studying? Have a go at these two tasks and we'll see how you get on.

Okay, let's see what the answers are.

So in the first task, first of all, it's the inquiry question that comes first.

Then you've got your data collection, number two.

Number three, data presentation, followed by data analysis, then you write a conclusion, and then finally, you evaluate.

Hope you got those in the right order.

And then, the second task about which inquiry stage means you go out into the field and you measure and record data, that is the data collection stage.

Did you get those right? Let's move on to look at the second part of today's lesson.

We're going to be looking at the features of a good inquiry question.

So a good inquiry question asks something that we do not know about a particular place.

It guides the researchers through each stage of the inquiry process until they are able to answer that question.

So it's the question itself, which drives every other thing that you do as part of the whole inquiry process.

Now, Jacob is going to answer this inquiry question.

How popular is the indoor market compared to the Meadows Shopping Centre in Chelmsford City Centre? How might the inquiry question itself help Jacob to plan the data collection and the data presentation stages of his field work inquiry? So let's look at the data collection stage first of all.

The inquiry question tells Jacob that he needs to collect data in both the indoor market, and in the shopping centre that he mentions.

As he's looking at how popular each of those places are, he needs to carry out a pedestrian count in each place, see how busy they are.

In terms of his data presentation, the inquiry question tells Jacob that he needs to compare the data from each site, so the market, and the shopping centre.

And he decides to do this in a traditional column chart, but there's lots of choices that he could have made there.

This will allow him to see the difference between those two locations.

So again, the inquiry question is kind of telling Jacob how he needs to proceed in the other stages.

Let's check your ideas here.

So a good inquiry question is answered in the data collection stage.

Now is that true or is that false? Yes, it's false.

But why is it false? Well, a good inquiry question guides you through all the stages of the inquiry to help you find the right answer.

It's about the big picture, and not just the data collection stage.

Now, a good inquiry question is clearly related to place, and this is known as a field site, it's the place where you visit to actually carry out all of your data collection.

The scale of the field site though, is really, really important to have a think about.

If the field site is too small, it'll be difficult to collect enough data to draw a conclusion.

You'll only be able to really conclude about that very particular little place.

That doesn't really tell us very much as geographers.

So in this case, you've got a quadrant lying on a patch of grass.

And if the geographer were to only study that patch of grass, it would be far too small to make any good conclusions about biodiversity, for example.

But if the field site is too large, the research will have to collect a lot of data to be able to draw any conclusions.

If they do not collect this data, then they're likely to write about the field site in quite a generalised and very basic way.

So for example, if you were to go out and try and study a whole city, it would be way too large to learn about how, for example, the residents would view tourism.

There's way too many people to try to interview, there's too many places that you would need to visit.

Let's see what you've learned so far.

So Alex wishes to study the quality of housing.

What would be a sensible choice of field site for his inquiry? Pause the video here, and see if you can work out which answer would be the best one.

Right, what do you think? So we've got three houses, a residential street, a selection of residential streets, or the whole town.

You can see you've got different scales there, but a selection of residential streets would probably give enough data to Alex to enable him to think more carefully about the quality of housing.

If he was to only look at three houses, it wouldn't really give him enough data.

But if he wanted to try and study a whole town in terms of its housing, I think it would probably take him far too long, and it actually wouldn't be able to give him the quality of data that he'd be looking for.

So more features of a good inquiry question.

A good inquiry question, just like a hypothesis, uses precise language.

This means that the researcher knows exactly what aspects of geography they intend to study.

So we're back to Jacob again.

His question, how popular is the indoor market compared to the Meadows Shopping Centre in Chelmsford city centre? Jacob's inquiry question uses the word popular.

Now, you could interpret the word popular in lots of different ways.

It could mean how many people are there, what people like and dislike about it? There's a few different interpretations, so maybe Jacob could have used slightly more precise language.

Maybe he could have said, how many people use the indoor market compared to the Meadows Shopping Centre? That way he's got a really precise parameter on what he's going to measure when it comes to his data collection, rather than just the idea of popularity.

Now, Aisha is considering two possible inquiry questions.

Which inquiry question has used the more precise language? Read both of her ideas and then come back to me and tell me which one you think is more precise.

Pause the video here.

So Aisha, first of all says, how does the flow velocity, how fast the river's flowing, how does the flow velocity of the River Cuckmere change from source to mouth? Her other question, how does the speed of water change from the top to the bottom of the River Cuckmere? Now already I can see there's some issues around precise language there.

If you chose A as being more precise, you are right.

In A, it talks about the source of the river, and the mouth in the river.

In B, we're talking about the top and bottom of the river.

Now does that mean the top being the source of the river, or does that mean the top meaning, the top of the river surface, and the bottom of the river being the river bed? Can you see how the language there doesn't really tell us enough information to enable us to actually go out and answer the question? Right, let's practise what you've learned so far.

Suggest three things that could be improved about this inquiry question.

So Izzy is asking, what is globalisation like in cities like London? Pause the video here and have a think about that.

Right, I think we can see that there's potentially some issues with this question.

First of all, the question does not guide the researcher to any form of data collection, it's left quite open.

I'm not really sure reading that question from Izzy, what she would actually go out and do in the field.

The scale of it is huge.

London is way too big to study this kind of topic accurately.

She would be out for years trying to study this, rather than the amount of time that she would have to do her field work.

And language such as, what is globalisation like, is not very precise.

That could mean lots of different things to different people.

Right, let's look at the final section of today's lesson, which is about how research frameworks can help us to structure inquiry questions.

So not all geographical questions are suitable for a detailed field work inquiry.

It's the research framework that can help us to create really informative and really meaningful inquiry questions.

The research framework is the type of geographical research on which the inquiry will focus.

Now, some research frameworks compare two things.

For example, you could compare two different places.

You could compare how a place is today to what it was like in the past, and this is known as a temporal comparison.

You could compare the real world with geographical theory or a model.

'Cause of course, those two things can be quite different as well.

Now, which research framework is Lucas using with his inquiry question? He's asking how and why has the economy of Chale village changed since the 1950s? So which research framework is he using there? Is Lucas comparing two different places? Is he comparing a place temporally, in other words, from one timeframe to another? Or is he comparing a place to a theory, or to a model which he's already learned about? Which one is it? Pause the video and have a think.

Yes, Lucas is comparing the place temporally.

He's comparing to what trail village is like today to what it was like in the 1950s.

Did you get that right? There are other forms of research frameworks as well.

So some can assess change more deeply.

For example, you could assess the impact a change has had on people, or on a landscape.

You could assess the potential impact a change could have.

So when the change hasn't happened yet, you could assess what impact it might have on people or landscape.

Or you could assess whether there's a need for change at all to occur.

So with those things in mind, which research framework is Jun using with his inquiry question? He says, to what extent has the pedestrianisation of Bedford Place improved the environment for local people in Southampton? Have a think, which of these options might it be? Is he assessing the impact that a change has had? Is he assessing the potential impact a change might have in the future? Or is he assessing the need for change in an area? Which one is it? Right, hope you got that right.

Yes, he's assessing the impact a change has had.

So the pedestrianisation of Bedford Place has already happened, so he is looking at what impact, and particularly the environmental impact and what impact that's had on the surrounding area in Southampton.

Research frameworks that use impacts can be made more meaningful by adding those little extra details.

For example, impacts could be positive, or negative.

Or you could look at impacts that are social, economic, environmental, and together it is these things that make something geographical.

So how could Sofia make her inquiry question more meaningful? At the moment, she's asking, what impact have the flood defences had on the town of Upton? So she could add in some extra detail about whether they are positive or negative impacts, so she could say, what positive impacts have the flood defences had on the town of Upton? So she's just added in that extra detail there.

She could also focus on the social impacts of the flood defences.

So what social impacts have the flood defences had on the town of Upton? So she's just modified those questions slightly, but she's added so much, much more detail and really kind of making the conclusions that she will form much more meaningful.

So let's check our understanding here.

How has Sam made her inquiry question more meaningful? So Sam saying, in what ways has the redevelopment of Salford Quays been of benefit to the local economy? Has she focused on the concept of redevelopment? Has she focused on the impact on people? Or has she focused on the positive economic impacts? Which one is it? Pause the video if you need to have a think.

Right, you can see that Sam has said has been of benefit to the local economy.

So really you can see it has to be C, positive economic impacts.

Did you get that right? Right, your final tasks for today.

Using a research framework that compares two things, write an inquiry question based on this photograph.

So you can see you've got a coastline there, it's a bay between two headlands.

What could you write as an inquiry question, which is comparing two things? Secondly, using this photograph, again, using a research framework that assesses change now.

So what inquiry question could you write about this photograph that is focusing on assessing change? Pause the video, have a go, and I'll give you some answers in a moment.

Okay, let's go back to that photograph of the bay.

So you could have a question like, to what extent is the geology at the bay different to the headland? So you're comparing those two different places within the photograph.

You could ask how and why has the landscape changed since, for example, a date, 1990? So that's looking at comparing one timeframe now, with another, 1990.

To what extent does the headland show evidence of the four types of erosion? So this is comparing what you are seeing on the ground in real life with geographical theory, which is the four different types of erosion.

You might have come up with very different ones, but they should all be about comparing two things.

So now we're looking at the photo, which has some flooding in it, and we need to come up with some questions that are assessing change.

So here's some things you might have.

What has been the environmental impact of flooding here? So it's looking at something that has happened, and it's talking about what the impact has been.

You could say, what negative impacts might new flood defences have on the people who live here? So this is looking at potential change.

If new flood defences were brought in, what would be the impact on people? And finally, to what extent do the residents here need improved flood defences? So this is about assessing the need for change rather than the change happening itself.

So to summarise today's learning.

A geographical inquiry is a structured piece of research into a place, and the processes happening there.

It is split into six stages that guide the researcher and help them answer that question.

A good inquiry question is clearly related to place, and it uses precise language.

And finally, research frameworks can be used to create more informative and meaningful inquiry questions.

Well done.

There was a lot of new information in that lesson.

But learning it now will put you in a really good place as you move forward with your geographical field work inquiries.