Fieldwork

• Every fieldwork enquiry starts with an aim (what you want to find out) and a hypothesis (a testable statement).
• Data collection has two types: primary (you collect it yourself) and secondary (someone else collected it).
• Data also comes in two forms: quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (descriptions/opinions).
• Health and safety planning (risk assessments, equipment checks, contact points) happens before any data is collected.
• Data is then presented using the right graph or map for the job — bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, rose diagrams, triangular graphs, scatter graphs, choropleth maps, proportional symbol maps, photographs, field sketches.
• Analysis means describing patterns, finding anomalies, and using statistics like mean, median, mode and range.
• The conclusion returns to the hypothesis and states clearly whether it was supported.
• Evaluation is the final, often exam-heavy stage: what went wrong, what could be improved, how reliable was it all?

Think of fieldwork like a detective investigation. You can't just wander around a beach or a river collecting random stuff — you need to know exactly what mystery you're trying to solve before you start. That's what the aim and hypothesis are for.

The Aim

The aim is a broad statement of what the whole enquiry is trying to achieve. It's usually phrased as "An investigation into...". It doesn't need to be provable with numbers — it just sets the direction of travel.

The Hypothesis

The hypothesis is much more precise than the aim. It's a single sentence that makes a prediction, and — crucially — that prediction has to be something you can actually test with the data you collect. A good hypothesis has three properties:

Notice both examples above are directional — they say discharge increases, not just "discharge changes". That's what makes them testable. Hypotheses are also often based on established geographical models — for example, a river hypothesis might be built on Bradshaw's model, which predicts how river characteristics like width, depth and velocity change downstream.