IB Geography fieldwork should investigate a focused geographical question using primary data collected at a local scale. You do not need an unusual destination or expensive equipment. A shopping street, park, school campus, stream, beach, village, or transport route can provide enough spatial variation for meaningful analysis.
This guide explains the official IA expectations, suggests accessible Geography fieldwork ideas, and shows how to choose suitable methods, sampling strategies, and analytical techniques.
What IB Geography fieldwork must include
The Geography internal assessment is a fieldwork investigation completed by SL and HL students. The requirements are the same at both levels, although the IA contributes 25% at SL and 20% at HL. The IB recommends approximately 20 hours, and the report has a maximum length of 2,500 words.
Your investigation must:
- Address a focused fieldwork question linked to the Geography syllabus.
- Operate at a local scale.
- Include primary information collected through fieldwork.
- Analyse geographical patterns, relationships, or processes.
- Reach an evidence-based conclusion and evaluate the investigation.
- Be submitted as an individual report, even if some data was collected collaboratively.
The assessment has six criteria covering the question and context, methods, information treatment, analysis, conclusion, and evaluation. These total 25 marks. The official IB Geography subject brief provides an overview, but students should confirm session-specific instructions with their teacher.
What makes a good Geography IA idea?
A workable investigation needs more than an interesting topic. Check that your idea is spatial, produces measurable variation, allows sufficient primary data collection, connects to geographical theory, and can be completed safely.
A focused question normally identifies a variable, a spatial dimension, and a named location. Instead of asking “Is my town sustainable?”, ask “How does environmental quality vary with distance from the central shopping district in [town]?” The revised version establishes a transect, measurable indicators, and a basis for comparison.
Accessible IB Geography fieldwork ideas
These ideas should be adapted to your location rather than copied unchanged.
| Accessible location | Possible fieldwork question | Primary data methods |
|---|---|---|
| Town centre | How does pedestrian density change with distance from the commercial centre? | Pedestrian counts, land-use mapping, accessibility scores |
| Residential areas | How does environmental quality vary between neighbourhood zones? | Environmental surveys, noise readings, traffic and litter counts |
| Bus or railway stations | How does transport accessibility vary across the study area? | Service records, travel times, pedestrian counts, facility audits |
| Park or school grounds | How does vegetation cover influence temperature? | Canopy estimates, temperature readings, shade classification |
| Shopping area | What factors influence the popularity of retail locations? | Footfall counts, service inventories, short questionnaires |
| Local stream | To what extent do channel characteristics change downstream? | Width, depth, velocity, bedload size and roundness |
| Beach | How do beach characteristics vary along the coastline? | Beach profiles, sediment measurements, wave counts |
| School campus | How effectively does the campus support sustainable transport? | Travel-mode survey, vehicle counts, route mapping, facility audit |
Urban investigations are accessible because they often rely on observation rather than specialist equipment. The urban stress investigation in Bern shows how a familiar landscape can support a focused transect study.
Physical geography is equally suitable when safe sites are nearby. River measurements can be compared with theoretical downstream models, as illustrated by the River Ogmore fieldwork exemplar. Coastal work can examine sediment, beach profiles, vegetation, or human disturbance, although tides, access, and protected habitats require careful planning.
Choosing effective data collection methods
Use each method because it helps answer the question. Combining methods allows one dataset to support, qualify, or challenge another.
A bipolar environmental quality survey assigns scores between defined extremes, such as very quiet and very noisy. Prepare descriptors in advance and calibrate observers together. Because these scores involve judgment, support them with traffic, litter, pedestrian, or noise measurements.
Counts produce straightforward quantitative data, but the counting period, categories, site boundary, and time of day must remain consistent. Repeat observations where possible because a single count may be distorted by a bus arrival, school dismissal, roadworks, or weather.
Questionnaires can investigate perceptions, travel behaviour, shopping, or tourism. Keep them short, avoid leading questions, collect no unnecessary personal information, and follow school consent procedures. Participation must be voluntary.
For physical measurements, record units, equipment precision, repetitions, and field conditions. Phone applications may assist with location, gradient, noise, or temperature, but test their reliability before depending on them.
Sampling and site selection
Systematic sampling suits a transect, such as measuring every 100 metres from a town centre. Stratified sampling allows comparison between categories such as commercial, residential, and recreational land use. Random sampling can reduce deliberate site-selection bias within a defined area.
Convenience sampling may sometimes be necessary for safety or access, but it should not be presented as fully representative. Explain how restricted site selection might affect the pattern. A pilot study can reveal unsuitable intervals, confusing categories, and unreliable equipment before the main data collection begins.
From raw data to geographical analysis
Select presentations that reveal spatial patterns. Useful options include located proportional symbols, choropleth maps, transect graphs, scatter graphs, box plots, and annotated photographs.
Statistical analysis must match the variables and question. Spearman's rank correlation can examine an association between ranked variables, while chi-squared may test an association between categories. Neither replaces geographical explanation. Discuss patterns, anomalies, processes, limitations, and links to theory rather than reporting a coefficient alone.
The Warsaw quality-of-life exemplar demonstrates how several indicators can be connected to an urban transect. Use exemplars to understand structure, not as templates to reproduce. More approaches are available in RevisionDojo's collection of IB Geography IA examples.
Common fieldwork mistakes
- Choosing a question covering an entire city, river basin, or tourism industry.
- Collecting observations without a prediction or conceptual framework.
- Using too few sites to establish a convincing spatial pattern.
- Changing count durations or scoring criteria between locations.
- Presenting subjective environmental scores as objective facts.
- Ignoring consent, privacy, traffic, weather, tides, or site access.
- Removing anomalies instead of investigating possible explanations.
The fieldwork integrity guide explains consent, anonymity, accurate recording, and transparent reporting.
A practical fieldwork planning sequence
- Link the topic to a specific syllabus area.
- Write a question containing a variable, spatial dimension, and location.
- Develop a theory-based prediction.
- Select and justify a sampling strategy.
- Pilot every method.
- Prepare permissions, ethical safeguards, and a risk assessment.
- Standardize recording sheets, units, and categories.
- Record time, weather, coordinates, conditions, and interruptions.
- Preserve and back up the original data.
- Match every presentation or test to an analytical purpose.
The RevisionDojo IB Geography resource hub provides study notes and practice materials. Jojo AI can help identify whether a question is too broad or whether a method has weaknesses, but your teacher must approve the investigation and the submitted decisions must remain your own.
Conclusion
Effective IB Geography fieldwork is local, focused, measurable, and connected to geographical ideas. Accessible sites are often advantageous because they allow pilot testing, repeated measurements, and defensible sampling.
Confirm that your location is safe, your variables are measurable, and enough primary data can be collected consistently. RevisionDojo's Geography IA exemplars, Coursework Review, and Jojo AI can then help you check structure and reasoning while preserving the authenticity of your report.