NEA Fieldwork Handbook

Phase 1

Basic Formatting & Setup

General Guidelines

• Use paragraphs and tables where appropriate.
• Be in a printable format (the document must have pages).
• Use a readable font and font size (Font Size 12 Calibri is the default and best here).
• Have images and graphs that are not blurry.
• Include headings that could be put into a table of contents and navigation on Word / Google Docs to meet professional standards.
• Include references. Any book, image, website or other piece of material must be cited in the document to avoid plagiarism.

Document Beginning

• Title of the fieldwork.
• A relevant image relating to the fieldwork.
• A table of contents from Word using the built-in headings feature.

Phase 2

Introduction Section

Executive Summary

• Give an overview of your title. What are the main processes at play here?
• What does your investigation aim to do?

Links to Specification

• List any sections from the official AQA specification relevant to your title and fieldwork project (e.g. 3.2.3 | Contemporary Urban Environments).

Maps & Locations

• Map of Country / Region relevant to fieldwork (i.e. Great Britain for Holderness).
• Map of sub-region (i.e. Southwest England for Plymouth).
• Map of city / specific area of fieldwork.
• Explanation: What does the map show? Why are they relevant? Why did you choose this place? Give history behind the area. Is this area easy for you to get to?

What is X?

• Explain the main focus of your project (e.g. if focusing on regeneration, explain what regeneration is).
• Explain any processes (e.g. erosional processes).
• Explain these things in terms of your chosen fieldwork location.
• Case Study Link: Give a case study where this occurred. Explain how it relates to the location you will go to.
• Showcase images of the fieldwork study area and the comparative case study.
• If relevant (e.g. for erosion), include diagrams to explain how the process works.

Phase 3

Hypothesis & Methodology

Hypothesis Requirements

• Full statement of each Hypothesis.
• Expected Outcome: i.e. "If you get further away from the CBD, you would expect foot traffic to decrease."

Methodology Breakdown

• Method Name.
• Is it a primary or secondary data method?
• Is the data quantitative or qualitative?
• What equipment did you use?
• Choices: Collected on the same day? Weather interference plans? Conditions affecting collection?
• Sampling: What sampling type was used and why?
• Relevance: How does this method relate to the hypotheses? What will you show or find?
• Limitations: Issues that could come up; is data subjective or biased?
• Improvements: Could you do more sites? Make repeat results more consistent?

Phase 4

Data Presentation & Analysis

Presentation Choices

• Graphical Methods: i.e. scatter or bar graphs.
• Statistical Analysis: i.e. a Spearman's Rank of a scatter graph.
• Map-based methods: i.e. proportional shapes.

Analysis Requirements

• Provide presentation methods (graphs) for each hypothesis.
• Analyse the data: Give trends, specific examples, and identify anomalies.

Conclusions

• Hypothesis 1, 2, and 3 Conclusions + Research Title / Overall Conclusion.
• State clearly if you Accept or Reject the hypothesis.
• Why: Provide evidence or relate to theory mentioned in the intro.
• Sense-Check: Do findings make sense? Discussion of levels of bias or issues.

Phase 5

Full Evaluation

Location Factors

• Size and number of transects (if applicable).
• Weather, Safety, Day performed, and Time of year performed.
• Ease of data collection and number of sites available (could you have done more?).

Title & Hypothesis Evaluation

• For each hypothesis: was it too narrow or too broad? Was it a good choice for the title?
• Potential Changes: How would you change it? (e.g. focusing on economics specifically).
• Helpfulness: Was it actually helpful? Did you prove anything useful?

Collection Methods Review

• Talk about if each method was useful. If not, was it the method itself or a lack of planning (e.g. broad questions)?
• Reliability: Was data reliable, accurate, and valid? Could people argue against it?
• Mixture: Effectiveness of primary and secondary data combination.

Issues & Potential Changes

• Issues Encountered: What happened and what did it lead to (e.g. invalid data)?
• Fixes: How did you solve it? (e.g. ignore vs specific solution).
• Future Changes: How would you prevent issues next time? Improvements to strengthen research validity (e.g. government data).

Analysis, Presentation & Results

• Was the choice of data representation good? Could it be improved?
• Inclusion of annotated site images to show evidence.
• Ease of analysis: Would more sites or data have helped?

Ethical Considerations

• Social: Consider public safety and privacy.
• Environmental: Consider harm caused to the environment.
• Research Outcome: Does the report portray a specific group negatively?
• Mitigation: How did you mitigate these issues?

Overall Conclusion

• Were you pleased with the fieldwork overall? Why?
• Concluding the report summary.

Final

Bibliography

• Links to every book, image, website, or piece of material used in or with the fieldwork project.