GEOGRAPHY

RESEARCH(PAPER 4)
The Topic to be investigated should be:

 Able to be completed in the time available by the number of people in the group.
 Able to be done in an accessible and safe location.
 Able to be done using equipment available.
 Likely to succeed.
What is a hypothesis
 A hypothesis or a question.
 A hypothesis is a statement that can be proved or disproved by being tested.
 When researching a relationship, all other variables, such as the time of the survey, must
be kept the same so that they cannot influence the results.
 Factors the students should consider in
choosing their five fieldwork sites.
 Safety regarding dangerous animals/pollution/avoid rocky banks to avoid slipping/avoid
slippery areas.
 Width/depth/amount of water- not too wide/not too deep/variable widths.
 Accessibility/easy to get to/not private land.
 Equal distance between sites/evenly spaced/not too close together.
 Away from human impact/buildings/houses.
 In different stages of the river.
 Continuous flow/not near waterfalls/rapids.
Possible risk when carrying out fieldwork.
Risk Reason
Hypothermia River water becomes cold in
winter.
Cuts and wounds Slippery rocks on the
riverbed and banks.
Animal bites Spiders, snakes and
mosquitoes live around the
river.
Waterborne disease People throw rubbish into the
river and pollute it.
Student precaution
Wear warm clothes.
Wear appropriate footwear/
boots/ shoes /wellingtons.
Protections such as:
gloves/long sleeves/long
trousers/insect repellent.
Do not drink water from the
river and wash when finished
fieldwork.
Pilot study

 A pilot study is a trial of the methods of collecting data. Be it questionnaire, field study,
interview, etc
Advantages of doing a trial (pilot study)
 Agree methodology on what measurements to take faults in methodology/how to improve
methodology.
 Practise fieldwork techniques/know what to do.
 Test equipment
SAMPLING

 A sample is a group selected from a larger population, where population means the whole of
whatever is being sampled.
 It is a representative of the whole population.
Sampling techniques are;
 Systematic sampling-choosing every nth or 10th person or house.
 Avoid bias/fair test/equal chance for everybody
 Stratified sampling-Taking different groups or types to be represented in the same proportion as
they exist in the total population. Gender balance
 Avoids bias/fair test/more representative
 Random sampling-Choosing anyhow or use of a random number table.
Advantages and disadvantages of sampling

Advantages of sampling
 Sampling reduces the time taken to collect data.

Disadvantages of sampling
 Sampling may miss important sites
Health and safety considerations

 Wear strong footwear and suitable clothing. Including a life vest.

 Consider the need to wear insect repellent and sunblock
 Do not work alone.
 Questionnaires should be conducted in pairs in safe locations.
 Contact phone numbers for home and school and a mobile phone should be taken out if
possible.
 Tide tables should be consulted before working on the beach.
Measuring the width of the channel and depth of the river at points across the
channel

Width of channel
 Equipment: Tape measure
 Stretch tape measure across river/from bank to bank/One side of the river to another.

Depth of the river

 Equipment: ruler/metre ruler/Measuring stick/metre stick
 Measure the depth at 0,5 m interval across the channel.
Wetted perimeter

 The wetted perimeter is the part of the channel cross-section which the river touches
Method used to measure wetted perimeter.
 Equipment: Use a tape measure/rope/chain
 Work across river bed from water level on one side to water level on other side.
 Keep tape in contact with bed/channel OR
 Measure wetted perimeter line on cross-section.
 Use scale. OR
Measuring a wetted perimeter.

 The tape measure was placed along the bed of the river, starting and finishing at water
level on both banks.
 To make the method more accurate a student walked along it to cross the river.
DISADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD
 Too deep to reach the bed/cannot reach river bed.
 Tape may not be too long .
 Current may move tape/pull tape downstream/lift it from bed.
 Dangerous because too deep/fast flowing.
Measuring river velocity

A. Using a float/ an orange

Equipment: orange Stopwatch tape measure two bamboo poles
1st- Use the tape measure to measure a 10m section of the river.
2st- Mark the beginning and end of the measured section with a bamboo pole.
3rd -Put an orange in the river at the first pole and start the stop watch.
4th-Stop the stopwatch when the orange reaches the second pole.
5th –Record in the fieldwork notebook the time taken for the orange to travel 10m. 6 th-
Repeat task and calculate average.
Measuring velocity of a river

B-Using a flowmeter
1st-Put flow meter on water, propeller should be below surface of river
2nd- There should be nothing in front of the propeller, it should be facing upstream.
3rd- Read/ look at digital reading displayed for speed.
4th- Take several readings and calculate average.
Factors affecting the river’s speed of flow
(velocity).

 Gradient/steepness of slope/angle of slope

 Volume of water/discharge/tributary joins.
 Straight/presence of meanders
 Amount of rainfall/snowmelt
 Interference by people, e.g. dam/weir
 Bed roughness/rocks in river/plants in river.
 Wetted perimeter
Measuring Rock size and roundness of rock

Rock size
 Use ruler to measure long axis/length/width/height of rock.

Roundness
 Compare rock with the chart
Reasons why rock size and roundness change
downstream

 Attrition - Pebbles crush into each other.

 Corrasion - Pebbles crash into bed and banks.
 Smaller/rounder pebbles are moved further downstream because they are easier to
transport.
 Longer duration of transport.
Describe how the students measured the
downstream slope (GRADIENT)

 Equipment: using a clinometer and ranging poles.

How to measure
 Place Two vertical surveying poles
 Distance apart/at least 5 metre apart.
 Line up clinometer between same points on the poles.
 Measure angle
How data collection can be improved for
appropriate results.

 Measure depth at more points across channel/smaller intervals.

 Repeat during different day/month/season
 Sample more rocks at each site
 Different sampling techniques rather than random.
 Get rocks from underneath surface of bed.
 More students use Roundness Scoring chart to check results.
 Measure volume/weight of rocks.
Do you stay at Mochudi

 Important to ask this question when researching about a mine at Mochudi.

 Students only want to ask residents or locals/not ask visitors/students want to know if
someone is a resident or live there.
 Residents or locals will know about the mine/visitors won’t know about mine.
 Not waste people’s time.
Flow line maps

Advantages of the flow line map

 Show direction of movement
 Shows number of people/how many there are
 Easy to interpret/clear picture/can easily see pattern.
Record sheet for observation.
What can be done to reduce traffic congestion
in urban areas

 Widen roads/more lanes/more roads/better roads.

 By-pass/ring road/under pass/flyover/bridge/tunnel/elevated road.
 Park and ride
 Bus lanes/bike lanes
 Car sharing
 More public transport
 Parking restrictions/more
 Parking spaces
 One way street
 Restrict traffic to certain days/licence plate policy.
 Congestion charge
Define these terms

What is
 Convenience item-a low cost item/brought frequently items/low profit item
 Examples of convenience items: milk/bread/newspaper.
 Settlement hierarchy-a way of arranging settlements into a rank order based upon their
population or some other criteria.
 Service(sometimes called functions)are anything that is provided in a settlement for the
population.
 Examples are : food, petrol , clothing, hairdressers, schools, hospitals, government police
, water and electricity.
WEATHER IN PAPER 4

Characteristics of high and low atmospheric pressure

Sinking air (H P)
Rising air (L P)
Stable unchanging conditions (H P)
Unstable and changeable conditions (L P)
Expected and dry weather (H P)
Expected wet weather (L P)
Weather

Why measurements are taken at the same time each day?

 To provide/gain reliable results/for easy comparison/no bias/fair test.
 Explain how and why the index pointer on the barometer is used?
 After each daily reading the index pointer is moved to the pressure indicator.
 It indicates the change in the pressure from the previous reading.
Changes taking place from upstream to
downstream of river.

 The table below show some of the characteristics of a river change downstream. Fill in
the gaps using;
 Discharge load quantity( amount of load carried by the river)
 Slope angle(gradient)

Increase further downstream Decrease further downstream

Channel depth Roughness of the channel bed
Channel depth Slope angle (gradient)
Discharge
Load quantity