Fieldwork (General)

Question 1

What is primary data?

Answer 1

• Information collected yourself directly through fieldwork
• It is the most up to date and you are familiar with how it was obtained

Question 2

What is secondary data?

Answer 2

Information somebody else has collected for you that you will be using to help answer your hypothesis

You can often crosscheck your primary data with secondary data to check validity

Question 3

What is qualitative data?

Answer 3

• Data that is non numerial (e.g photos or questionnaire responses)
• Analysis of these results can often be subjective

Question 4

What is quantitative data?

Answer 4

• Numerical data associated with measurements
• The data can be easily plotted onto a graph to easily see the trends

Question 5

What are three methods of sampling?

Answer 5

• Random
• Systematic
• Stratified

Question 6

What is random sampling and what are it’s advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 6

• When a random number generator is used to randomly choose sample sites for fieldwork study
• This is great for reducing bias
• However the sites may be all grouped in one area and your scope of results are limited or be where data is difficult/unsafe to measure

Question 7

What is systematic sampling and what are it’s advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 7

• Choosing sampling sites at specific and equal intervals (e.g exactly every 2m along a 20m beach)
• You get a perfect scope of results as you measure the entire area
• However the sites might be suboptimal to measure in or not give you an accurate picture as you may accidentally skip key areas

Question 8

What is stratified sampling and what are it’s advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 8

• Using pre-existing knowledge to purposefully choose sampling sites
• You can choose the safest, most relavant and most easy to measure sites
• However the results will be biased and won’t give a complete picture of the area

Question 9

What is a procedural error?

Answer 9

The methods chosen to collect information were suboptimal and as a result the data was inaccurate

Question 10

What is a human error?

Answer 10

When bias or the errors in the noting down of data results in inaccurate data

Question 11

What is a measurement error?

Answer 11

An error made during the measuring process which resulted in inaccurate data (e.g parallax error)