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SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyGCSE fieldwork, skills and Paper 330 min★★★ difficulty

Fieldwork enquiry: planning, sampling and data

You must complete two contrasting enquiries — one physical, one human — and answer questions about them from memory. This lesson builds the enquiry framework.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Plan enquiries, select sampling and presentation methods, analyse data and evaluate conclusions.

Key learning points

  • • The six-stage enquiry
  • • Primary and secondary data
  • • Sampling
  • • Risk and reliability

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 17 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

enquiriessamplingpresentationmethodsconclusions

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 17 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 17

Watch first

Fieldwork enquiry: planning, sampling and data

An English teaching video on this topic from erin meryl mcgurk. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Plan enquiries, select sampling and presentation methods, analyse data and evaluate conclusions.

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 17

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · The six-stage enquiry

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 17

Learn

The six-stage enquiry

Question or hypothesis; selecting methods; collecting data; presenting data; analysing and drawing conclusions; evaluating. Every Paper 3 fieldwork question sits at one of those stages, so name the stage in your answer.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 17

Learn

Primary and secondary data

Primary data you collect yourself: river measurements, pedestrian counts, environmental quality surveys, questionnaires. Secondary data comes from others: census data, flood records, maps, historical photographs. Good enquiries triangulate the two.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 17

Quick check

Which stage comes immediately after collecting data?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 17

Quick check

Which is secondary data?

7

Learning cycle

Part 7 of 17

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Sampling

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

8

Reset break

Part 8 of 17

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 17

Learn

Sampling

Random sampling avoids bias but may miss areas; systematic sampling at fixed intervals gives even coverage and is easy to justify; stratified sampling matches the proportions in the population. Always justify the choice with reference to the enquiry, not in the abstract.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 17

Learn

Risk and reliability

Identify risks and mitigation for any site. Reliability improves with repeat readings, consistent equipment and a large enough sample; state a specific weakness and its effect on your conclusion rather than writing 'we could have collected more data'.

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 17

Quick check

When is stratified sampling most appropriate?

12

Quick check

Part 12 of 17

Quick check

Which is a strong evaluation point?

13

Explore the idea

Part 13 of 17

Worked example

Model answer: 'Justify one sampling method used in your enquiry' (4 marks)

We used systematic sampling, measuring channel width and velocity at ten sites at equal intervals down the river's long profile. This was appropriate because the hypothesis concerned change with distance downstream, so evenly spaced sites gave comparable coverage of the whole profile rather than clustering in accessible reaches. It also removed personal bias in choosing sites, and the fixed interval made the results straightforward to plot against distance, which strengthened the correlation we identified in analysis.

14

Challenge round

Part 14 of 17

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

15

Challenge round

Part 15 of 17

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Question or hypothesis; selecting ____; collecting data; presenting data; analysing and drawing conclusions; evaluating.

Good ____ triangulate the two.

Random ____ avoids bias but may miss areas; systematic sampling at fixed intervals gives even coverage and is easy to justify; stratified sampling matches the proportions in the population.

16

Mastery quiz

Part 16 of 17

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Fieldwork enquiry: planning, sampling and data

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Which stage comes immediately after collecting data?

  2. 2. Which is secondary data?

  3. 3. When is stratified sampling most appropriate?

  4. 4. Which is a strong evaluation point?

17

Lesson round-up

Part 17 of 17

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 17 · Watch & discover

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