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Teacher’s notes included in the Notes Page.Flash activity. These activities are not editable.

Icons key: For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

Accompanying worksheet. Printable activity. Useful web links.

Introduction to Fieldwork Fieldwork and Analysis

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Conducting fieldwork

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Creating a hypothesis

Fieldwork is how geographers gather information that proves or disproves a hypothesis or a set of hypotheses.

A hypothesis is an idea which can be investigated and found to be true or false.

Example hypotheses:

Most people visiting the site travelled there by car.

River discharge increases downstream.

Pedestrian numbers are highest in the town centre.

What data could you collect to prove or disprove each hypothesis?

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Location, location, location

Planning where to do fieldwork is a central part of investigating a particular hypothesis.

A site must be safe, accessible, and a likely source of relevant data.

Drawing a sketch map or annotating a map of a site is useful as it highlights physical and human features that are relevant to the investigation.

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Data collection

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Returning to the hypothesis

If the analysis of fieldwork data shows the hypothesis to be true, geographers say they accept the hypothesis.

If the analysis of fieldwork data shows the hypothesis to be untrue, geographers say they reject the hypothesis.

The data collected during fieldwork and presented as results is used to test the hypothesis. It is analysed for patterns and trends that shed light on the subject of the hypothesis.

What do you do with the hypothesis?

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What conclusion can you draw?