Geography GCSE Fieldwork

How did we decide on Shoreham as our location for fieldwork

Essentially it is close to London allowing us to get there and back within a day as it took about two hours to get there and the same amount of time to return. It also fulfilled our aims since it was a seaside town which had coastal protection. This allowed us to ask people who lived there what they thought about the coastal protection and investigate the effects of the coastal protection itself. Moreover the beach was accessible in many places so we could go down to the beach to investigate the beach profile and how that will have changed due to the coastal protection. This also allowed us to look at the pebble sizes.

Evaluating the Methodology and Field Skills

How did we decide on Shoreham as our location for fieldwork

Essentially it is close to London allowing us to get there and back within a day as it took about two hours to get there and the same amount of time to return. It also fulfilled our aims since it was a seaside town which had coastal protection. This allowed us to ask people who lived there what they thought about the coastal protection and investigate the effects of the coastal protection itself. Moreover the beach was accessible in many places so we could go down to the beach to investigate the beach profile and how that will have changed due to the coastal protection. This also allowed us to look at the pebble sizes.

What was our hypothesis and how did we identify a hypothesis to test?

‘’Groynes have no impact on beach profile or beach material’’

We only had about an hour on the beach and therefore we needed to test something that would fit in the time available and develop the skills we wanted to improve such as sampling of beach sediment and beach profile diagrams.

Evaluating the Methodology and field skills

How did we ensure we reduce user error?

●        Many rocks used at each pole

●        A few people were assigned to each task.

What were the limitations of the data collection and recording methods?

●        The only changes in gradient we measured were the visible ones, we could have missed some minor changes.

●        The roundness index is very general. It relies on almost entirely on the observation of the person looking at the rock. Most of the pebbles could be almost anything.

What were the issues around the sampling techniques chosen?

●        The demographic that we found in Shoreham was very specific. This could have been down to the area, or the time that we were questioning.

●        We may have subconsciously chosen to interview, or avoid, certain types of people.

How would you improve your methodology?

●        Use poles of the same length, as opposed to people of roughly the same height. This would ensure the angle of the slope would be measured more accurately.

●        If we had increased funding, GPS computer mapping software could be used to more accurately recreate a beach profile of the area.

●        Have a greater number of people assessing the shape, size, roundness of the pebbles.

●        We could have done beach profiles at several locations along the beach, both close and far away from groynes, in order to test the differences.

How confident can you be in your conclusions you make?

●        Due to a reasonably large sample size, our survey conclusions are pretty reliable.

What other data would you collect to improve your confidence in your result?

●        Take aerial photographs of the area to assess sediment build up along the beach.

●        Any data collected could be (using Google maps etc.) compared to other data of areas in other parts of the country.

●        Talk to other groups that had collected similar data to us, in order to find out what the differences are along the beach.

How did we decide on Shoreham as our location for fieldwork

Essentially it is close to London allowing us to get there and back within a day as it took about two hours to get there and the same amount of time to return. It also fulfilled our aims since it was a seaside town which had coastal protection. This allowed us to ask people who lived there what they thought about the coastal protection and investigate the effects of the coastal protection itself. Moreover the beach was accessible in many places so we could go down to the beach to investigate the beach profile and how that will have changed due to the coastal protection. This also allowed us to look at the pebble sizes.

Beach measurements - profiles and sediments:  

Methodology - collection and recording of data:

To begin with, we set up on a fairly gently sloping beach, and began measuring in the sea, in order to find out the beach gradient. We used a clinometer to measure the change in angle between the eye level of two similarly tall people. We moved further up the beach, taking measurements as soon as we noticed a significant change in the gradient of the beach. This was the sampling technique we chose for measuring the gradient of the beach. Next, for the pebble measurements, we collected them by randomly picking approximately 10 stones near where the measurements for beach gradient were taken. We collected the data concerning pebbles by firstly measuring the longest axis of the stones we collected using pebbleometers, and then comparing them to the Roundness Index, looking at the sphericity and angularity.

How did we conduct our sampling?

We decided to use a stratified sampling method. We chose to take the transects either side of the the groynes to show if the groynes actually trapped sediment. We did not choose random and systematic sampling because we may have missed important parts of the beach profile. After we had chose the transect, we used took measurements of the slope when it was one consistent gradient, so when it noticeably changed gradient we would take measurements from there. Using stratified sampling in this way we managed to get an accurate profile of the beach.

How did we record the data?

We made a pre-prepared table where we could record the gradient (using a clinometer) and the distance between the points (using a tape measure). We also tabulated the results for the pebble roundness.

  

Risk Assessment

Since the beach was a pebble beach there was a possibility of a stick and twist hazard leading to sprained ankles and other injuries. Also beforehand we went to check the tide times to see if we would arrive there at high or low tide. We arrived there at high tide so we didn't really have a huge problem. Some of the rocks we slippery so we had to be fairly careful. People also had to go into the sea but we did not allow them to go further than knee height in case they couldn't get out.

Primary and Secondary data

The primary data was the data collected on the day that we collected ourselves such as the pebble roundness and the gradient of the beach. The secondary data was maps we used and geology maps which we got from simply books and google maps or earth and even a website called friends of Shoreham.