Every card in Fieldwork and skills, Year 11: analysing data and evaluating an enquiry
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- What name is given to a result that does not fit the pattern shown by the rest of the data?
An anomaly (also called an outlier)
HintOn a scatter graph it is the point sitting far from the line of best fit.
WhyOn a graph it stands apart from the trend. It may come from a mistake in measuring or recording, or it may be real and have a local cause, such as a weir that slows a river at one site. AQA asks you to identify these odd results in fieldwork data and comment on them.
- A pupil spots an anomaly in a set of fieldwork results. What should be done before deciding whether to leave it out of the mean?
Look for a cause, such as a measuring error or something unusual at the site
HintAsk why it happened before asking whether to keep it.
WhyIf the odd result was a slip, such as a misread ruler, it can be left out and the reason stated. If the place really was different, the result is evidence and should stay, with an explanation. Either way the analysis must mention it: quietly removing awkward results is not honest.
- "Mean pebble length falls from 80 mm at site 1 to 25 mm at site 5." Which AQA command word does this sentence answer? (one word)
describe
HintIt says what happened but gives no reason.
WhyTo describe is to say what the data shows: the pattern, with figures quoted. To explain is to give the reason, using geography: "because pebbles are worn down by attrition as the river carries them". A full analysis does both, and the second step usually begins with "because" or "this is due to".
- At each site further from a town centre, traffic counts fall and environmental quality scores rise. Put together, what link between traffic and environmental quality do the two data sets suggest?
Less traffic goes with better environmental quality
HintSay how one value moves as the other one moves.
WhyLinking data sets means using one set of results to help make sense of another. Here the two change in opposite directions, a negative relationship, which a scatter graph would show. The link suggests traffic may be a cause of poor quality (noise, fumes), but other things also change with distance, so it does not prove it.
- Two river sites have the same median pebble length. The inter-quartile range is 8 mm at site A and 40 mm at site B. What does this tell you about the pebbles at site B?
Their sizes are much more varied
HintThe middle half of one sample is squeezed together; the other is stretched out.
WhyAn average alone hides the spread. The inter-quartile range is the spread of the middle half of the values, so a large one means a wide mix of sizes: the sediment at site B is poorly sorted. Choosing a statistic that fits the question, and saying what it shows, is part of the analysis.
- What word describes measurements that are close to the true value?
Accurate
HintAn archer who hits the bullseye has this quality.
WhyHow close a result is to the truth depends on the equipment and how carefully it is used: a tape pulled tight, a stopwatch started on time, a ruler read at eye level. In an evaluation, say which measurements may have been off, in which direction, and how that would change the results.
- A pupil repeats a pedestrian count at the same spot and the same time on three Mondays and gets very similar totals each time. Which word describes results that come out the same when the method is repeated?
Reliable
HintGetting the same answer again says nothing about whether the answer is true.
WhyResults that come out much the same when the method is repeated can be trusted not to be a fluke. That is a separate question from whether they are close to the truth: a pupil who always misses people walking behind a bus shelter would be consistent and consistently too low. (In science lessons this is called being repeatable.)
- Three pupils score the same street for environmental quality and give it 2, 5 and 9 out of 10. What weakness of this method do the scores show?
It is subjective: the score depends on personal opinion
HintAsk whose view each number really measures.
WhySome methods measure (a tape, a counter); others ask for a judgement. Judgements differ from person to person, so the data is less reliable. Improvements include agreeing a description for each score beforehand, having the same person score every site, or averaging several people's scores.
- An enquiry judged a river's flood risk using only measurements taken on one day. Which kind of data would show how the river has behaved over many years?
Secondary data, such as past flow records
HintSomeone else has been measuring for decades.
WhyOne of the four things AQA asks for in an evaluation is other data that would have helped. Fieldwork is a snapshot of one day. Published records, old maps and photographs, and official statistics can add the long view and a wider area, and can be used to check whether your own results were typical.
- An enquiry's conclusion rests on data from only three sites, and two of the results are anomalies. Which word describes a conclusion that must be worded cautiously because the evidence is thin?
Tentative
HintIt begins like the word for a shelter of canvas.
WhyAn evaluation ends by judging how far the conclusion can be trusted. That depends on the method (was it accurate and fair?) and on the data (was there enough, and was it typical?). With few sites and odd results, the honest wording is "the data suggests" and not "this proves", followed by what would make it firmer.
1★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0032
2★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0033
3★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0034
4★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0035
5★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0036
6★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0037
7★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0038
8★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0039
9★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0040
10★ GCSE-GEOG-FIE-0041
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