Geography Paper 4

Rivers

• Changes in river velocity from source to mouth
• Changes in load (shape and size) from source to mouth
• Changes in channel depth, width, cross-section and wetted perimeter from source to mouth
• Changes in discharge from source to mouth
• Changes across a meanders cross section
• Changes in river gradient from source to mouth
• Changes in valley size and gradient from source to mouth
• Changes in land use a long a river
• Changes in pollution along a rivers' course (you need proper equipment for this)

Coasts

• Changes in vegetation (cover and variety) moving inland
• Changes in beach profile and sand dune profile
• Speed of longshore drift
• Changes in land use
• Changes in defences (compare to land use)
• Changes in beach or dune material (size or shape)

Settlements

• Changes in land use
• Changes in traffic (maybe CBD to rural-urban fringe)
• Changes in pedestrians
• Number and type of tourists
• Changes in the quality of the environment or pollution levels (may look at the impact of industry)
• Changes in globalisation
• Changes in cost of products
• Comparison to Burgess or Hoyt Model
• Changes in wealth or population density (will have to use some secondary data)
• Sphere of influences of settlements or services

Weather

• Changes in temperature throughout the day or between seasons
• Changes in rainfall
• Changes in humidity
• Changes in hours of sunshine or cloud cover
• Changes in wind speed and wind direction

Safety:

• Protection from the weather (waterproof jacket, umbrella, hat, suncream)
• Sensible dress (remember you will be representing your school, but you should also wear clothes that don't draw attention to yourself
• Always carry out coursework in groups
• Always tell an adult or teacher where you area carrying out coursework
• Always carry a mobile phone with you
• Never do coursework near a river or the sea without an adult or teacher and without them checking that it is safe
• Carry out coursework in day light and wear reflective clothes
• Check that your study area is safe. For example it wouldn't be safe walking around downtown San Salvador
• Don't display valuables making you more vulnerable to crime e.g. if you have a camera or a phone keep it out of sight

Primary Research:

ADV:

• It is up to date (current)
• You know how the data has been collected i.e. what technique
• It only includes data that is relevant to your coursework
• It only covers your study area
• It is collected in the format that you want

DISADV:

• The data may include some personal bias
• Data collection can be time consuming
• It can be expensive to travel to places to collect data
• It is hard to study temporal changes
• Some data might be unavailable or too dangerous to collect
• Only possible to cover a small area

Secondary Research:

ADV:

• You can study temporal changes e.g. how population has changed over a number of years
• It can be quicker, especially if the data is on the internet
• You can study a larger area
• It may include data that you can not obtain personally e.g. salaries

DISADV:

• It is out of date, especially if it has been printed in a book.
• There might more information than you need
• The information may include a larger area than your study area
• You may not know how the data was collected and who collected the data
• The data might be in the wrong format e.g. in a graph and not raw figures