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Week by Week - Week 30
Geographical Study
Geographical Study
This week is a very important one for your Geographical study.
You should now have a variety of results from your research, in the form of graphs, maps, statistical calculations, diagrams and any other interesting way you're displaying data! The aim is to show at least ten different techniques across your Geographical Study.
You now need to begin to analyse your results.
According to the SQA mark scheme, analysis includes: [My own comments added in italics]
links and/or relationships between the different data sets that have been gathered and processed
Can you find any links between your own data? What are those links and why could they exist?
links and/or relationships between the different data sets and the wider context of the study
Do the results you've got make sense in terms of the geographical setting, the population being studied or the period over which your data is from?
similarities and/or contradictions between the data sets and related theories
Do your results agree with what the theory and geography says they should be? What are the implications of your findings? Or if they aren't what you'd expect, is there anything that could explain that?
Analysis is hard to do, so my advice would be to get a print out of all your results/data presentation and an A3 whiteboard. Look at what you've found - what can you see?
Mind map it out and see what relationships you can identify, what makes sense with what you'd expect and what other factors may have influenced any results which are not as you'd expect.
Analysis is marked by placing you in a marks bracket (e.g. 11-12, 8-10, 5-7, 1-4) and then awarding according to the strength within that bracket. The mark scheme, for the highest marking bracket, says:
11–12 marks: Candidate identifies and gives clear and explicit explanation(s) of relationships identified from the information or data gathered.
Candidate reflects on the research questions, hypotheses or sub-aims of the study.
Comments from Understanding Standards about high marking analysis sections:
Mersehead Biodiversity - 2019 - 12 analysis marks
Each research question is clearly and explicitly analysed
’large void spaces increase infiltration rate, thus upper horizons lack moisture’
‘this explains why Site 7 has the highest pH …’
‘Site 7 has a low organic matter content due to the sandiness and site 9 has a high organic matter content possibly due to the accumulation of alluvial deposits for the river’; ‘the grassland sites have a relatively high biodiversity reading possibly because soil moisture is moderated’.
Urban issues in Edinburgh's Old & New Town - 2023 - 10 analysis marks
The candidate identifies and gives clear and reasonable explanations of relationships. Relationships between the hypotheses could be better developed with wider reading. The candidate was placed in the 8-10 marks category:
On pages 48 and 49, the candidate uses surveys, SIMD and wider reading from ‘Edinburgh Live’ to link the idea of deprivation and unsafe environments; ‘This is due to these areas being typically less developed and therefore the urban environment can be more challenging to navigate due to lack of public funding.’ They go on to state; ‘This means that peoples’ perceptions of criminal activity are what informed how safe they saw either place’.
On page 53, the candidate links land use maps to traffic and pedestrian counts, and then to the street layouts. They then link back to the theory about lighting however, this could have been better developed.
The candidate on page 54 describes extreme clustering but could have developed this further.
The candidate links theories with visual data on pages 56 and 57 and surveys on page 55 to develop the idea of mobility issues on accessibility in both areas.
Map Interpretation
Map Interpretation
In a joint tutorial this week, we'll look at some of the tricky "factors" or "influence" questions which have appeared over the years in AH papers.
Geographical Skills
Geographical Skills
This week we'll visit a local beach and apply our slope analysis, vegetation analysis, microclimate and soil analysis skills to put together a beach profile, along a transect.
In advance of doing so, please watch:
this Time for Geography video which explains the theory behind how beach sand dunes develop and change
this Time for Geography video which sets out how to conduct a beach profile survey - you'll recognise most of this from when we learned about slop profiles, but there's a few points unique to a beach environment to be aware of
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