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Year 11
AQA

Evaluating geographical enquiries

I can evaluate the effectiveness of the different stages of a geographical enquiry.

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New
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Year 11
AQA

Evaluating geographical enquiries

I can evaluate the effectiveness of the different stages of a geographical enquiry.

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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There are many stages of a geographical enquiry that can be evaluated.
  2. Conclusions should be evaluated to show how reliable and valid the data is.
  3. Geographical research is often evaluated to see how ethically and morally considerate it is.

Keywords

  • Objective - objective data is data that is considered to be factual

  • Subjective - subjective data is data that is based on opinions

  • Reliable - reliable data is data that would show the same result were it to be collected on a comparably similar occasion

  • Valid - valid data is data that allows the geographer to answer their enquiry question successfully

  • Anomaly - a piece of data that sits outside the general trend and cannot be explained

Common misconception

Highlighting the flaws in a geographical enquiry shows that I am a poor geographer.

Good geographers take time to be deeply reflective of their work and will present their findings honestly and transparently, even if they show errors that affect the final outcome. Good geographers also show how a study can be improved and extended.


To help you plan your year 11 geography lesson on: Evaluating geographical enquiries, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Give students a short opinion editorial newspaper article that covers a geographical idea. They can then highlight objective and subjective data and make suggestions on how the ideas could be better researched.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these does not appear in the GRaDE method of describing data?
Discussing the general trend
Correct answer: Discussing how the values are ranked
Quoting data directly
Describing any exceptions in the data
Q2.
A correlation shows ...
Correct answer: the relationship between one variable and another.
which category has the greatest value.
how local people feel about an issue.
how to split a transcript up into parts.
Q3.
bias is when geographers try to conclude what they believe to be true rather than what their evidence shows them.
Correct Answer: Confirmation
Q4.
Which of the following questions would not form part of a discourse analysis?
Where was the text written?
What was the intended audience?
Correct answer: Do people agree with the message?
When was the picture taken?
Q5.
What is transcript coding?
Asking questions about how the transcript was made
Summarising the main points in the transcript
Correct answer: Allocating a letter or number to key ideas in the transcript
Viewing the transcript from different audience perspectives
Q6.
Which two types of statement should be avoided in conclusions?
Correct answer: Assumptions and false conclusions
Assumptions and interpretations
Interpretations and false conclusions
Interpretations and empirical evidence

Exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
An anomaly is …
an incorrect piece of data.
Correct answer: a piece of data that does not follow the general pattern.
a piece of data caused by human error.
a piece of data that shows confirmation bias.
Q2.
Which of the following statements is not true?
Good geographers should discuss areas of weakness in their data collection.
Good geographers should highlight where there may be human error in their data.
Good geographers talk openly about how they would extend their study.
Correct answer: Good geographers ignore the data that contradicts their ideas.
Q3.
Geographers want their data to be both and reliable.
Correct Answer: valid
Q4.
Which of these is not an ethical or moral consideration?
Not dropping litter
Seeking a land owner’s permission
Correct answer: Checking equipment is not faulty
Minimising the amount of noise