These eight questions use original scenarios. They follow the lessons in designing a small ethical geographical investigation.
Write your own answer first, then open the explanation.
Questions
Question 1: Turn the broad topic “traffic” into a question that a student could answer by counting at one place.
Answer
Model answer: “How does the number of vehicles passing the school gate per 10 minutes change between 7:00 and 8:00 on one weekday?”
It names what to count, the unit, the place and the time, so the student knows exactly what to record.
Question 2: A fictional 800 m trail is 25% wetland boardwalk and 75% dry path. Under stratified sampling, how many of 20 points go in each part?
Answer
Boardwalk: 20 × 0.25 = 5 points. Dry path: 20 × 0.75 = 15 points. The two add up to 20.
Question 3: Systematic sampling is planned along the trail in Question 2 with a point every 40 m. How many points result, and what is one risk?
Answer
800 ÷ 40 = 20 points.
Risk: if a feature repeats at the same spacing, such as a bench or bin every 80 m, every second point could land beside it and bias the counts.
Question 4: A draft recording sheet for a litter count has columns for “house number”, “resident’s name” and “items”. Redesign it.
Answer
Remove house number and name. Use rows by area code, such as Segment A to D, with columns for items counted, time and weather notes.
The redesigned sheet still answers where litter is higher, and no person or house can be identified from it.
Question 5: Six ground temperatures (°C) are 28, 31, 35, 30, 34 and 34. Find the mean and the range.
Answer
Total = 28 + 31 + 35 + 30 + 34 + 34 = 192. Mean = 192 ÷ 6 = 32 °C.
Range = 35 − 28 = 7 °C.
Question 6: The readings in Question 5 were taken at 1 pm at 6 points on one day. Write a specific limitation.
Answer
Model answer: “Only 6 points were used and all were taken at 1 pm on one day, so the mean of 32 °C may not show the pattern at other times or on other days.”
It names the number of points, the timing and what the result may not show.
Question 7: A student writes: “I visited on a cool, cloudy morning, which explains why the readings were low.” The data supplied give no time or weather. Correct the sentence.
Answer
The time, the weather and the explanation are all invented. A corrected version: “The readings range from 28 to 35 °C. The time and weather are not stated, so the reason for the readings cannot be given.”
Question 8: A class counts bins set out on four streets of 25 homes each: 10, 15, 20 and 5. Find the share out on each street and overall, and say what one day of data cannot show.
Answer
Shares: 10 ÷ 25 = 40%, 15 ÷ 25 = 60%, 20 ÷ 25 = 80%, 5 ÷ 25 = 20%.
Overall: (10 + 15 + 20 + 5) ÷ 100 = 50 ÷ 100 = 50%.
One day cannot show whether the pattern repeats each week, so a claim about usual habits is not supported.
If you got these wrong
Question 1 links to turning a broad topic into an answerable question. Questions 2, 3, 5 and 6 test choosing a sampling method and explaining its limitation. Questions 4 and 8 test recording observations without identifying people, and Question 7 tests reporting findings without fabricating fieldwork.
Build a timed set with the timed original practice session builder and keep a mistake log. To go through your errors with a teacher, see online one-to-one Geography tuition.