OxfordAQA International A-level Geography (9635): 3.5 Geographical and fieldwork skills – Revision Notes

For full explanations and worked calculations, read the study guide first.

These notes cover section 3.5, Unit 5: Geographical and Fieldwork skills, of the OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Geography (9635) specification, Version 3.2: the geographical skills checklist (3.5.1) and fieldwork skills (3.5.2). Unit 5 is a 1 hour 30 minute written exam with 60 marks, all questions compulsory, worth 20% of the International A-level, and 15 of its marks assess your own investigation. The skills checklist is also needed for Units 1 to 4.

When you have revised, test yourself with the practice questions. For how the papers fit together, see the exam preparation guide. Track your progress on the OxfordAQA A-level Geography hub and checklist.

Unit 5 at a glance

• Format: written exam, 1 hour 30 minutes, 60 marks, answer all questions.
• Weighting: 20% of the International A-level (AO1 about 5.0%, AO2 about 6.0%, AO3 about 9.0%).
• Own investigation: 15 of the 60 marks.
• Two kinds of fieldwork question: unfamiliar (apply fieldwork knowledge to a new scenario) and familiar (your own experiences and findings).
• Command words: not printed in the specification; your teacher will confirm the list.

Key terms

Term	Definition
Annotation	A label that explains a feature, not just names it
Choropleth map	Areas shaded according to a rate or density
Isoline map	Lines joining points of equal value
Dot map	Each dot stands for a fixed number of items
Flow line	Line whose width is proportional to the volume moving along a route
Desire line	Straight line from origin to destination, ignoring the route
Trip line	One line for each individual journey
Proportional divided circle	Circle with area proportional to its total, divided into segments
Triangular graph	Plots three components that add to 100%
Logarithmic scale	Each cycle is a tenfold increase; compresses a wide range
Atlas map	Small-scale map giving the regional or global context of a place or pattern
Dispersion diagram	Each value plotted as a dot on a vertical scale to show spread
Inter-quartile range	Upper quartile minus lower quartile: the spread of the middle half
Standard deviation	Average spread of values around the mean
Null hypothesis	Statement that there is no relationship or no difference
Significance level	The chance probability below which you reject the null hypothesis (0.05 or 0.01)
Degrees of freedom	Number of values free to vary; sets the critical value row
Risk assessment	Identifying hazards, judging their risk and setting control measures
Stratified sampling	Sample split in proportion to known sub-groups
Primary data	Data you collect yourself
Secondary data	Data collected by someone else

Techniques at a glance

Technique	What it does	Formula or rule	One evaluation point
Mean	Average of all values	Sum / n	Distorted by extreme values
Median	Middle value	Position (n + 1) / 2	Ignores the size of other values
Mode	Most frequent value	Count	May not exist or may be unrepresentative
Range	Total spread	Highest - lowest	One outlier changes it
IQR	Spread of middle half	UQ - LQ; LQ at (n + 1) / 4, UQ at 3(n + 1) / 4	Ignores the tails
Standard deviation	Spread around the mean	Square root of [sum of (x - mean)^2 / n]	Some texts use n - 1; check with your teacher
Spearman’s rank (Charles Spearman, 1904)	Strength and direction of a relationship between paired data	rs = 1 - 6(sum of d^2) / (n^3 - n)	Shows association, never causation; uses ranks so ignores the size of gaps
Chi-square (Karl Pearson, 1900)	Whether observed frequencies differ from expected	Sum of (O - E)^2 / E	Needs raw counts; expected values of at least 5
Significance test	Probability a result is chance	Compare with critical value at the right df or n	Significant does not mean important or causal

Critical values to recognise (from standard tables):

• Spearman’s rank, n = 10, two-tailed (non-directional hypothesis): 0.648 (0.05), 0.794 (0.01). One-tailed (directional): 0.564 (0.05), 0.745 (0.01).
• Chi-square, df = 1: 3.84 (0.05), 6.63 (0.01). df = 2: 5.99 (0.05), 9.21 (0.01). df = 3: 7.81 (0.05), 11.34 (0.01).

In the exam you will normally be given the table. Use it.

Graphs and maps: which to use

• Change over time: line graph (compound if showing parts of a total).
• Comparing categories: bar graph (comparative, compound or divergent).
• Relationship between two variables: scatter graph with best fit line, then Spearman’s rank.
• Proportions: pie chart; proportional divided circles if totals differ too.
• Three parts adding to 100%: triangular graph.
• Very wide range of values: logarithmic scale.
• Spread and outliers in a small data set: dispersion diagram.
• Regional or global context of a place or pattern: atlas maps.
• Values at points on a map: located proportional symbols.
• Movement: flow lines (volume), desire lines (origin to destination), trip lines (individual journeys).
• Patterns over an area: choropleth (by area), isoline (continuous change), dot (density).

ICT skills

• Remotely sensed data: satellite, aerial or drone imagery; large areas and change over time; limited by cloud, resolution and the need for ground checks.
• Electronic databases: census, flow records, statistics; large and consistent but collected for other purposes.
• Crowd sourcing and big data: volunteered maps, geotagged posts, phone data; huge and fast but unrepresentative, with privacy concerns.

Fieldwork stages (3.5.2.1-3.5.2.5)

1. Planning and preparation: aims, location, a justified hypothesis or research question, appropriate methods, background research from secondary sources, and a risk assessment.
2. Collection of data: primary and secondary methods, each justified; sampling type (random, systematic, structured/stratified).
3. Presentation: maps, graphs, photographs, field sketches, tables, quotations, with justification.
4. Analysis: statistical techniques where appropriate, other techniques where not.
5. Conclusions and evaluation: accept or reject the hypothesis; ethics and the impact of collecting and representing data; increased understanding of the place and ideas; evaluate every stage; suggest improvements and future use.

The specification requires every student to do a personal investigation. If practical fieldwork is not possible, it allows school-grounds enquiries, interviews in school or at home, or raw unprocessed data from your teacher that you help plan and sample. Pre-processed data alone is not enough.

Must-know distinctions

• Mean vs median: use the median when there are extreme values.
• Range vs IQR vs standard deviation: range is crude; IQR ignores extremes; SD uses every value.
• Random vs systematic vs stratified: chance, regular interval, or proportional to sub-groups.
• Correlation vs causation: rs shows that two variables change together, not that one causes the other.
• Reliability vs validity: reliable means repeatable; valid means it measures what you meant to measure.
• Familiar vs unfamiliar fieldwork questions: your own enquiry, or a new scenario in the paper.
• Choropleth vs isoline: choropleth shades bounded areas; isolines show continuous change across boundaries.
• Pie chart vs proportional divided circle: the second also shows different totals through circle area.

Mini essay plan

“Evaluate the extent to which your sampling strategy allowed you to reach a reliable conclusion in your own fieldwork investigation.”

1. Introduction: your aim and hypothesis, the place and date, and the sampling method in one sentence.
2. Strengths: why the method suited your question; how many samples; coverage of the study area.
3. Weaknesses: a specific bias or gap (time of day, access, sample size, a sub-group missed) and how it affected a named result.
4. Effect on the conclusion: how confident can you be in accepting or rejecting the hypothesis? Link to the statistical result if you used one.
5. Improvements: a different or combined sampling type, more repeats, or a pilot study, each tied to a named weakness.
6. Judgement: to what extent the conclusion is reliable, and what further work would make it secure.

Quick self-test

1. Name the three types of sampling listed in the specification.
2. What is the difference between a desire line and a flow line?
3. Find the median of 7, 3, 9, 4, 12.
4. If one proportional circle shows a value four times larger than another, how much larger is its radius?
5. Calculate rs when the sum of d^2 = 24 and n = 10.
6. How many marks in Unit 5 assess your own investigation?
7. State the degrees of freedom for a chi-square test with 2 rows and 3 columns.
8. Why should choropleth maps show rates rather than totals?
9. Give one limitation of crowd-sourced data.
10. What does a logarithmic scale show by equal slopes?
11. Name the two ways fieldwork is assessed in Unit 5.

Answers

1. Random, systematic and structured/stratified.
2. A desire line joins origin and destination in a straight line; a flow line follows the route and its width shows volume.
3. In order 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, so the median is 7.
4. Two times larger, because the area (not the radius) is proportional to the value.
5. rs = 1 - (6 x 24) / 990 = 1 - 144 / 990 = 0.855.
6. 15 out of 60.
7. (2 - 1) x (3 - 1) = 2.
8. Large areas tend to have large totals simply because of their size, which hides the real pattern.
9. It is unrepresentative, because only people with the technology and willingness to contribute are included.
10. Equal percentage (proportional) rates of change, not equal absolute changes.
11. Unfamiliar fieldwork questions and familiar fieldwork questions.

Where marks are usually lost

• Giving a number with no units, no rounding sense and no interpretation.
• Ranking the two Spearman variables in opposite directions, which flips the sign of rs.
• Not averaging tied ranks.
• Accepting or rejecting the null hypothesis without quoting the critical value and significance level.
• Claiming a significant correlation proves cause and effect.
• Using percentages in a chi-square test.
• Naming a sampling method without explaining why it suits the question.
• Listing hazards in a risk assessment with no control measures.
• Writing about your own fieldwork in general terms, with no place, date, numbers or result.
• Suggesting “collect more data” without saying what, where and why.

Official syllabus

These notes follow the OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Geography (9635) specification, Version 3.2, section 3.5 (Unit 5: Geographical and Fieldwork skills) and the scheme of assessment in section 4. Check the current version on the OxfordAQA website.