Describing the study area, stating aims, and recording data

Overview

Difference between site and situation and difference between an aim and a hypothesis.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   How do you describe the location of a study area geographically?

   Model answer

   Work from the general to the particular. Name the region and country, then the nearest large settlement with the distance and compass direction from it, then the immediate setting - the river and the reach of it, the stretch of coast, the part of the town - and finally fix the sites precisely with grid references. Add the physical and human context that matters to the investigation: relief, geology, drainage, land use and population. A location map showing the same information completes the description.

2. 2

   What is the difference between site and situation, and why does it matter to a study area description?

   Model answer

   Site is the actual ground a place occupies and its immediate characteristics - the land it is built on, its relief, drainage, aspect and soil. Situation is its position in relation to the wider area - its distance and direction from other settlements, its position on a route network, its relationship to a river or coast. Both matter because they explain different things: site explains why a settlement or a landform is where it is in detail, while situation explains its role in the region and how accessible it is.

3. 3

   What should a location map show?

   Model answer

   The study area within a frame, with the individual sampling sites marked and numbered so they can be cross-referenced to the data; the features that fix the position, such as the coastline, the river, main roads and named settlements; a north arrow and a scale bar; and a title naming the area. An inset map at a smaller scale showing where the area lies within the region or country is usually needed, because a reader unfamiliar with the area cannot place it from the detailed map alone.

4. 4

   Why does a reader need the location before they see any of the data?

   Model answer

   Because geographical data mean nothing detached from place. Whether a rainfall figure is high, whether a slope is steep, whether a pedestrian count is impressive, and whether a land use is surprising all depend on where the measurement was taken and what that area is like. The location also lets the reader judge whether the conclusions can be extended anywhere else, and lets anyone who wishes to check the work return to the exact sites.

5. 5

   How does the location description differ between a physical and an urban investigation?

   Model answer

   A physical study emphasises the natural setting: the drainage basin and the position of the sites within it, relief and altitude, geology and soils, vegetation cover, exposure and aspect, and the climate of the area. An urban study emphasises the human setting: the size and function of the settlement, its position in the settlement hierarchy, the zone of the town each site falls in, the age and type of the housing, the transport network and the socio-economic character of the population. Each includes enough of the other to make the sites intelligible.

6. 6

   Which secondary sources help you describe a study location accurately?

   Model answer

   Ordnance Survey maps at two scales, for position, relief, drainage and land use; geology and soil maps for the physical setting; census data for the population and socio-economic character of an urban area; aerial photographs and satellite images for the pattern of land cover and settlement; local authority and planning documents for the function and recent development of the area; and historic maps and photographs where the description needs to explain how the area came to be as it is.

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