Fieldwork Inquiry (WJEC)
Geography Fieldwork Inquiry
Fieldwork Inquiry is the cornerstone of geographical learning. It's about stepping outside the classroom and becoming a geographer in action. This hands-on approach allows you to explore geographical questions in the real world, developing essential skills through practical investigation. It's not just about collecting data; it's a complete journey of discovery, from initial curiosity to thoughtful reflection.
The Essence of Fieldwork Inquiry:
Real-World Learning: Fieldwork takes geographical concepts and theories from textbooks and brings them to life. You're no longer just reading about rivers, cities, or coasts – you're experiencing them directly.
Skill Development: It's designed to build a specific set of skills vital for geographical understanding and practice. These include:
Question Formulation: Learning to ask sharp, geographically relevant questions about the world around you.
Evidence Gathering & Analysis: Mastering techniques to collect data in the field and using appropriate methods to interpret it.
Conclusion & Evaluation: Developing the ability to draw meaningful conclusions from your findings and critically assess the entire investigation process.
Active Engagement: Fieldwork encourages active learning. You're not passively receiving information; you're actively involved in the process of geographical discovery.
The Six Stages of the Fieldwork Inquiry Process:
A structured approach is key to successful fieldwork. Think of it as a journey with six distinct phases:
Stage 1: Defining Your Inquiry - Crafting an Aim or Question
Purpose: This is the starting point. You need to pinpoint exactly what you want to investigate. This means creating a clear, focused geographical question or aim that your fieldwork will address.
Characteristics of a Good Question:
Geographically Grounded: It must relate directly to geographical concepts, processes, or issues. Think about topics like settlement, rivers, coasts, ecosystems, or urban environments.
Specific & Focused: Avoid overly broad questions. A focused question allows for a more manageable and in-depth investigation.
Researchable: It must be something you can actually investigate through fieldwork within the time and resources available.
Examples:
Instead of: "Study a river."
Try: "To investigate how river channel characteristics (width, depth, velocity) change as you move downstream." (Specific, focuses on river processes, researchable).
Instead of: "Look at a town centre."
Try: "To examine how environmental quality varies across different zones within a town centre." (Specific, focuses on urban environment and environmental quality, researchable).
Stage 2: Designing Your Investigation - Methodology & Evidence Collection
Planning is Key: Once you have your question, you need a plan for how to answer it. This involves deciding:
What Data to Collect: What specific information will you need to answer your question? (e.g., measurements, survey responses, observations).
How to Collect It: What fieldwork techniques will you use to gather this data effectively and reliably?
Fieldwork Techniques - Your Toolkit:
Sampling Strategies: How will you select the locations or people you will study?
Random Sampling: Ensures every point or person has an equal chance of being selected (reduces bias, but may miss patterns).
Systematic Sampling: Sampling at regular intervals (good for transects, but can be biased if patterns align with intervals).
Stratified Sampling: Dividing the study area into zones and then sampling within each zone (ensures representation from different areas).
Justify your choice - Why is this sampling method the most appropriate for your investigation?
Surveys & Questionnaires: Gathering opinions, perceptions, or factual information from people.
Design clear, unbiased questions.
Consider different question types (multiple choice, open-ended, rating scales).
Pilot test your questionnaire before using it in the field.
Environmental Measurements: Quantifying aspects of the physical environment.
River measurements (width, depth, velocity, gradient, sediment size).
Beach profiles (gradient, sediment type, beach features).
Air and noise pollution levels using meters or sensors.
Temperature, rainfall, wind speed using instruments.
Observation: Systematically recording what you see and experience.
Land use surveys (categorizing land use types).
Pedestrian or traffic counts (quantifying flows of people or vehicles).
Environmental quality assessments (using scoring systems to rate visual aspects).
Field sketches and photographic surveys (documenting landscapes and features visually).
Flow Tracing: Following the movement of water, traffic, or people to understand patterns and pathways.
Transects: Studying changes along a line.
Beach profiles (changes in beach slope and sediment along a line perpendicular to the sea).
Urban transects (changes in land use, building height, or environmental quality across a city).
Qualitative Data Collection: Gathering descriptive, in-depth information.
Semi-structured interviews with local people or experts.
Focus groups to explore opinions and perspectives.
Detailed field notes and descriptions.
Safety First - Risk Assessment: Before any fieldwork, a thorough risk assessment is non-negotiable.
Identify potential hazards at your fieldwork location (traffic, water, uneven terrain, weather, etc.).
Assess the level of risk associated with each hazard.
Outline specific measures to minimize or eliminate these risks (e.g., wearing safety gear, working in groups, avoiding hazardous areas, having emergency procedures).
Stage 3: Organising and Presenting Your Evidence
Data Management: Raw data is often messy. You need to organize it so you can understand it.
Use tables or spreadsheets to structure numerical data.
Categorize qualitative data (e.g., responses to open-ended survey questions).
Visual Communication - Data Presentation: Presenting data visually makes patterns and trends much clearer. Choose presentation methods that are appropriate for your data type and highlight key findings.
Graphs:
Bar Graphs: Comparing categories or showing frequencies.
Line Graphs: Showing trends over time or distance.
Scatter Graphs: Exploring relationships between two variables (correlation).
Pie Charts: Showing proportions of a whole.
Histograms: Showing frequency distribution of continuous data.
Charts:
Flow Charts: Illustrating processes or flows.
Dispersion Graphs: Showing the spread of data around a central point.
Maps:
Choropleth Maps: Showing data values using colour shading across areas.
Isoline Maps: Connecting points of equal value (e.g., contour maps).
Proportional Symbol Maps: Using symbol size to represent data values at locations.
Annotated Maps: Adding notes and labels to maps to highlight key features or observations.
Tables: Summarizing key numerical data in an organized way.
Photographs and Field Sketches: Visually documenting your fieldwork location and observations.
Stage 4: Analysing Your Evidence - Uncovering Patterns and Meanings
Data Interpretation: This is where you make sense of your data. Look for patterns, trends, and any unusual or unexpected results (anomalies).
Analytical Techniques - Tools for Interpretation:
Descriptive Statistics: Summarizing data sets.
Mean (average), Median (middle value), Mode (most frequent value).
Range (spread of data), Percentages (proportions).
Correlation Analysis: Examining relationships between variables.
Spearman's Rank Correlation or Pearson Product Moment (measure the strength and direction of a linear relationship).
Statistical Tests (if appropriate):
Chi-Squared Test (analysing categorical data).
Mann-Whitney U Test or Student's T-test (comparing two sets of continuous data).
Spatial Analysis (using maps and GIS if applicable): Looking for spatial patterns and relationships on maps.
Connecting to Geographical Knowledge: Crucially, link your data analysis back to the geographical concepts, processes, theories, or issues that are relevant to your inquiry question. Explain your findings in a geographical context.
Stage 5: Forming Conclusions - Answering Your Question
Directly Address Your Aim: Your conclusion should be a clear and direct answer to the geographical question or aim you set out in Stage 1.
Summarize Key Findings: Briefly summarize the most important pieces of evidence from your analysis that support your conclusion.
Geographical Significance: Explain the broader geographical meaning or implications of your findings. How does your investigation contribute to a wider understanding of the geographical topic?
Stage 6: Evaluation - Reflecting on the Inquiry Process
Critical Reflection: This is a vital stage. Look back at your entire fieldwork inquiry and critically assess its strengths and weaknesses. Be honest and thoughtful.
Identify Strengths: What aspects of your fieldwork went well?
Were your methods effective for collecting the data you needed?
Was your data presentation clear and informative?
Did your analysis reveal meaningful patterns?
Were your conclusions well-supported by evidence?
Acknowledge Limitations: Every fieldwork inquiry has limitations. Identifying these demonstrates critical thinking.
Methodology Limitations: Were there any problems with your chosen methods? Were there better methods you could have used?
Data Limitations: Was your data reliable? Was the sample size large enough? Were there any gaps in your data? Were there any anomalies you can't explain?
External Factors: Did weather, time constraints, equipment issues, or other external factors affect your fieldwork?
Bias: Could there have been any bias in your data collection or analysis?
Suggest Improvements: Based on your evaluation, suggest specific and realistic ways you could improve your fieldwork inquiry if you were to do it again. This shows you've learned from the experience and can think critically about research processes.
Key Skills Developed Through Fieldwork Inquiry:
Enquiry Skills: Asking questions, planning investigations, problem-solving, critical thinking.
Practical Skills: Using fieldwork equipment, data collection techniques, map reading, observation.
Analytical Skills: Data processing, statistical analysis, interpretation of patterns and trends, drawing conclusions.
Evaluative Skills: Critical reflection, identifying strengths and weaknesses, suggesting improvements.
Communication Skills: Writing clear and structured reports, presenting findings visually and verbally.
Numeracy & Data Handling: Working with numerical data, using statistics, creating graphs and charts.
Spatial Awareness: Understanding spatial patterns and relationships, using maps and geographical tools.