A short read from the BBC this week, looking at why South Korean women aren’t having babies.
Issue idea: “Can governments encourage women to have more babies?”
Geographical Study
Last week you worked on researching and gathering information which will contribute to your Geographical Study. This week we’ll get that written up as the first part of your report.
Work on writing up, using your notes, the knowledge & understanding that a reader will need in order to understand your topic and research questions. You might want to format this as:
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A section towards the beginning of your report, which sets out the knowledge needed or;
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A section for each research question
You could use diagrams (sourced, adapted or created), graphs, maps and statistics as part of this; but bear in mind you’ll also have more of these when you get to the results stage.
You should reference the sources of the information you’ve used, both in-text and at the end as part of a reference list.
The SQA Understanding Standards website includes examples of Geographical Studies.
Consider this feedback, given by an SQA marker, on a successful AH study from 2019:
The candidate uses clear and explicit evidence from wider reading that is used to support findings from research, as exemplified by the theory section that introduces each research question. (You can read the full Geographical Study here.)
As another example, which gives more background to the marker’s decision, consider this study from 2022 (scroll down to Candidate 3 – their study was an urban study based in Edinburgh). The marker said:
The candidate was awarded 7/8 marks. The candidate uses reasonable evidence from wider reading and supports their findings with research, specifically in the conclusion, to provide evaluation and analysis however, this could have been developed further. In their analysis, the candidate relies on websites like Edinburgh Live rather than the research that stimulated the topic of study placing them in the 7-8 marks range:
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There are sections on page 44 where reference is made to more explicit wider reading; ‘Fear of Crime’, ‘Safer Sweden Foundation’ and ‘Feminist City’.
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The candidate uses ‘Travelness’ on page 46 to support their choice of sites.
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SIMD data 2020 on page 48 is used to link the idea of deprivation and safety.
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The candidate used Edinburgh Live on page 49 to confirm the Old Town as a ‘no go area’.
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The candidate uses Edinburgh Council on page 56 to support the idea of required improvements to connectivity and usability in the old town, for example, ‘urban lifts’.
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In conclusion, the candidate refers back to ‘Brands theory’ on page 58 to suggest that people make mental notes on areas they have heard to be unsafe when passing through similar places; ’Living Streets’.
Geographical Techniques
Slope analysis is a common technique used in glacial, coastal, soil and vegetation studies.
We will:
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Use ranging poles and a clinometer to measure a slope
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Draw a cross-section of the slope, including a discussion about axis exaggeration
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Talk about systematic vs stratified sampling
