Human fieldwork

investigation title

An investigation of environmental quality in a commuter settlement and surrounding villages

investigation aims

To see if there is a significant difference in environmental quality between Twyford and surrounding villages

why is this a suitable topic for enquiry

* Based on geographical theory – busier commuter town (Twyford) will have poorer environmental quality than smaller villages
* Low risk
* Secondary data available to compare with Twyford
* Manageable in terms of time (all villages are local)

location

Amberley drive, Twyford

advantages of this location

* Close to school – easily accessible
* Relatively safe
* Good representation of a commuter town

why is it useful to use maps and photographs in the investigation

* A clear, visual way to show the location of the investigation
* Useful for comparing different sites
* Can plot results onto maps to make comparisons

how will you collect primary data for this investigation

* Select random site in Twyford (random sampling)
* Complete bi-polar Environmental Quality Survey – ranking 5 criteria from -3 to +3
* Litter
* Greenery
* Noise
* Smell
* Buildings

advantages of collecting primary data this way

* No need for specialist equipment
* Cheap – school can afford it!
* Quick – data can be collected in a short period of time
* Gives a good indication of environmental quality

what are the disadvantages of collecting primary data this way

* Subjective – peoples opinions are different and this can affect the data
* Limited criteria – looking at only 5 factors

what secondary data are you using

Yes – we will use EQS results from Sonning, Charvil and Wargrave in order to make comparisons

what are the risks

* Traffic
* Getting lost
* Adverse weather

how to minimise the risks

* Stay at least 1m from roadside at all times
* Work in pairs/threes
* Bring a coat

why is it important to take a risk assessment

As we are working near to a road it is important to take precautions to avoid the dangers of traffic

data presentation: radial diagram - why did you choose this method to present data

* Visual impact - easy to see patterns
* Spatial
* Can compare multiple sets of data

data presentation: radial diagram - disadvantages

* Hard to plot
* Hard to spot anomalies
* Limited use - only works for certain types of data

data presentation: proportional symbols - why did you choose this method

* Useful for illustrating differences between places
* Visually appealing
* Easy to read as each symbol is proportional to it's value
* Data associated with a specific location

data presentation: proportional symbols - disadvantages

* Difficult to calculate actual value (if not shown)
* Time-consuming to construct
* Size may obscure location or mean less accurate positioning on maps

what do you results show

* Sonning has the highest EQS score of 12
* Wargrave is second with 10
* Charvil scored 6
* Twyford had the lowest EQS score of 4

conclusions

There is a difference in environmental quality between Twyford and surrounding village

how reliable are the results and conclusion

* Results are fairly reliable – we took an average of all groups data to account for subjectivity
* Same test was carried out in other villages (not by us) so comparisons are fairly reliable
* Factors affecting reliability:
* Day – before/after litter pickers/bin day
* Time – busier at 9:00am and 5:00pm
* Sites visited –Amberley Drive is not fully representative of the whole of Twyford

how have the results helped achieve your aim

* Results showed that Twyford has a lower EQ than surrounding villages
* Concluded that there is a difference in EQ – aim achieved
* However, we do not know if the difference is significant

how could the investigation be improved

* Include more criteria in EQS to get better representation of environmental quality
* Visit more sites in each place
* Visit all sites on same day/same time
* Complete a stats test to test for significant differences
* Mann Whitney U test gives a number that can be compared with a critical value