These seven original questions cover the skills of a small geographical investigation, from wording a question to judging a conclusion. Try each one on paper before opening the answer.
This practice belongs with geographical investigation. Keep a list of the questions you missed in a mistake log, then return to the lessons at the end of this page.
Questions
Question 1. Rewrite this weak question so it can be tested: “Is the river dirty?” Include a measure, one place and a time.
Answer
A model rewrite: “How many pieces of litter are visible on a 30 m stretch of the stream bank behind the school at 4.00 p.m. on Wednesday?”
The original has no measure (dirty is an opinion), no place and no time. The rewrite uses a count, a 30 m stretch and a named moment. Other measures, such as water clarity, would also pass.
Question 2. A student writes the hypothesis “The market will be crowded.” State two reasons this is not yet testable, then improve it.
Answer
It has no measure (crowded could mean anything) and no comparison or time. An improved version: “More people will pass the market entrance in 10 minutes at 7.00 a.m. than at 2.00 p.m.”
The improved hypothesis can be supported or rejected by two counts of the same length. If the investigation should avoid identifying people, count passers as a tally only, with no names or photographs.
Question 3. A class plans to measure pavement width along a road of 40 lamp posts. They will measure at every fifth lamp post starting from post 5. Name the sampling method and list the posts measured.
Answer
This is systematic sampling, because the points follow a fixed interval.
Posts 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 are measured. That is 40 ÷ 5 = 8 posts. A limitation is that if every fifth post happens to sit at a junction, the sample could be biased.
Question 4. Counts of bicycles passing a school gate in 10 minutes were: Monday 14, Tuesday 18, Wednesday 11, Thursday 17, Friday 20. Calculate the mean and choose a suitable graph.
Answer
Total: 14 + 18 + 11 + 17 + 20 = 80. Mean: 80 ÷ 5 = 16 bicycles per 10 minutes.
A bar chart suits five separate days, with days on the horizontal axis and “Bicycles counted in 10 minutes” on the vertical axis, from 0 to 25 in steps of 5. A line graph is acceptable only if the days are treated as a time series.
Question 5. A student’s graph has a vertical axis labelled only “Number”, a title “Results” and an axis that starts at 10. List three corrections.
Answer
First, the title should say what was counted, where and when. Second, the axis label should include the item and unit, such as “Bicycles counted in 10 minutes”.
Third, a bar chart should start at 0, because starting at 10 makes small differences look large. A source line such as “Collected by the student” would improve it further.
Question 6. A student photographs classmates near the canteen to show crowding, with faces visible. Explain the ethical problem and suggest a replacement.
Answer
Faces identify individuals who did not agree to be recorded. A geographical investigation should record places and objects, not identifiable people.
A replacement is a tally of how many people are in a marked area at 10.00 a.m., recorded as a number only. A sketch map of where queues form would also show the pattern without personal data.
Question 7. A class measured soil moisture at two spots on one day, and spot X was 38% and spot Y was 24%. A student concludes that “X is always wetter than Y because it is lower on the slope”. Give two problems with this conclusion.
Answer
The word always claims more than one day can show, so the time limit is ignored. Also, the reason (lower on the slope) was not measured, so it is an unsupported cause.
A supported version: “On this day, X had 14 percentage points more soil moisture than Y (38% − 24%). A possible reason is its lower position, but slope and drainage were not measured.”
If you got these wrong
- Questions 1 and 2: review writing a research question and turning a broad topic into a question.
- Questions 4 and 5: review presenting data clearly.
- Questions 6 and 7: review explaining limitations without inventing observations.
To practise the map and graph reading that feeds these skills, use the map and graph reading practice. For a teacher to go through your attempts, see online one-to-one Geography tuition.