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The research stage is worth six marks. You must gather information from at least two different sources. Your assignment can be based on primary or secondary sources or a combination of both.

Primary sources

Examples of primary sources (information you have gathered during fieldwork) include:

Human Geography field techniques:

• asking questionnaires
• carrying out interviews
• plotting different land uses
• conducting an environmental quality survey
• taking a traffic count/pedestrian count
• analysis of litter and noise pollution

Physical geography field techniques:

• river fieldwork techniques – such as measuring river depth, width, speed, bed load
• soil fieldwork techniques – such as measuring soil texture, colour, depth, moisture content, organic content
• coastal fieldwork techniques – such as measuring beach profile, pebble analysis, wave surveys
• glacial fieldwork techniques – such as till fabric analysis and measuring slope profiles

For both types of primary research, other fieldwork techniques could also include:

• taking photographs
• drawing field sketches
• mapping – such as land use (human) or the course of a river (physical)

Usefulness and reliability of your primary sources

When assessing the usefulness and/or reliability of your primary sources/fieldwork techniques it might be appropriate to comment on the following:

• advantages and/or disadvantages of the fieldwork techniques
• sampling strategy used – such as random, systematic or stratified
• sample size collected – such as too small for reliable results
• sample size collected – such as too small for reliable results
• weather on the day(s) of your fieldwork
• problems with the fieldwork instruments used and alternative fieldwork devices that could have been used