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How to plan fieldwork

The enquiry question will determine what data needs to be collected, eg an enquiry question related to rivers, would need river measurements such as velocity and depth. The data must answer the question, eg a study about river bedload would need measurements of stone size and shape.

Before going out to undertake fieldwork, think about what equipment is required, what clothing is suitable and the best location to gather data. Planning ahead ensures that good quality data will be collected.

All fieldwork has associated risks. Risk assessments help to understand the risk and avoid potentially dangerous situations, eg walking alongside fast-flowing streams or carrying expensive equipment through areas of high crime. A good risk assessment will also consider what to do if a difficult situation does arise.

You will also need to design and produce your own recording sheets. All fieldwork requires data to be collected and recorded. It is important to design a clear data collection sheet.

Different types of data

Data can either be:

• human - information about people, eg cities and tourism
• physical - information about natural landscapes, eg rivers and coasts

Data can also be either:

• primary - information that is collected first-hand, eg tallies, measurements and photographs
• secondary - information that someone else has previously collected and made available, eg on the internet

Finally, data will also either be:

• quantitative - information that can be measured and written down with numbers
• qualitative - information that describes but does not measure

Collect any information that will be useful, even from alternative methods, eg counts, scoring systems and bipolar surveys.

Data collection sheets should have a simple design so that the results are clear to read. The collection of data should be large enough as to avoid bias and give it greater accuracy. This is done through sampling techniques. There are three main types of sampling:

• Random sampling - selecting a person to interview or site to measure, at random. Random sampling is unbiased as particular people or places are not specifically selected.
• Systematic sampling - collecting data in an ordered or regular way, eg every five metres or every fifth person.
• Stratified sampling - dividing sampling into groups, eg three sites from each section of coastline, or five people from each age range. It is possible to combine stratified sampling with random and systematic sampling.

If you have access to tablets then recording sheets could be filled in directly which then makes refinement of data, and sharing of group data very efficient.