7.1 Student Planning Sheets | RevisionDojo7.1 Student Planning Sheets
- Which geographic topics interest you most, such as urban change, hazards, tourism, migration or rivers?
- Which places do you know well or can visit more than once?
- What key terms describe your topic?
- Use these terms to search library catalogues, databases and the internet.
- Which DP Geography concepts, such as place, process, power, possibility or scale, connect to your topic?
- What articles can you find on Google Scholar using your place name and key terms?
- What do those articles reveal, and which ideas stood out to you?
- Highlight useful passages and write short notes beside them.
- Choose the one topic you are most interested in and discuss it with your supervisor.
Tip
- Check early that your topic is not the same as your geography IA, because the EE must be separate work.
- Fill in each part of the question before you write it out in full.
- The example row shows a completed version.
| Place | Scale | Variable or process | Time frame |
|---|
| [city] CBD to [suburb] | One 12 km transect | Land use and building height | Survey in [month and year] |
| | | |
- Write your draft research question, starting with "To what extent…", "How far…" or "How effective…".
- Check your draft against these questions:
- Does it have a clear spatial component?
- Is the answer not obvious?
- Can it be answered in 4,000 words?
- Can you get the data you need?
- Is it a single question, not two joined together?
- To what extent does land use change with distance from the CBD along a transect in [city]?
- List every data set you need to answer your research question.
- For each one, decide how you will collect it and how you will sample.
| Data needed | Primary or secondary | Method or source | Sampling and sample size | Possible problems |
|---|
| Land use at each site | Primary | Land-use survey using fixed categories | Systematic, a site every 1 km, 12 sites | Mixed-use buildings are hard to classify |
| Median rents by district | Secondary | National statistics office | All districts on the transect | Data may be a few years old |
| | | | |
- Plan how you will present each data set, such as a choropleth map or a scatter graph.
- Note which statistical test, if any, will help you answer the question.
- Who needs to know where you are and when you will return?
- What risks does each site carry, such as traffic, water or weather?
- Do you need permission to access any land or buildings?
- How will you get informed consent for questionnaires or interviews?
- How will you keep respondents' personal data private?
- Will any photographs show identifiable people, and if so, do you have their consent?
- Never carry out fieldwork alone in an unfamiliar or risky place.
- Agree your fieldwork plan with your supervisor before you go.
- First reflection session: What is your topic, what is your draft research question, and what problems do you expect?
- Interim reflection session: What has changed since the first session, what data do you have, and what has gone wrong?
- Final reflection session: What did you learn, which decisions would you change, and which skills will you use again?
- After each session, write a short note in your RRS while the discussion is fresh.
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