AQA Geography Paper 3: Geographical Applications
Human Fieldwork:
➔ TO WHAT EXTENT IS BARNET HIGH STREET A SUCCESSFUL HIGH STREET?
1. Suitable question for geographical enquiry
JUSTIFYING LOCATION
→ Accessible: able to walk to and from the site within the duration of one lesson
→ Suitable size: the area that was being surveyed could be travelled along by foot within the duration of the
lesson
→ Safe location: no serious safety hazards. Pelican and zebra crossings available so we can safely cross the road.
RISK ASSESSMENT:
Risk Probability of occurrence Severity Solution
Getting lost Unlikely Inconvenience Stay in group of minimum three
people and use the map
Causing annoyance to Sometimes Inconvenience Do not stand in places where you
members of public will be causing an obstruction
Getting run over on the Unlikely Major injury/fatal Stop, look, listen and cross at a safe
road place ie zebra/pelican crossing
HYPOTHESIS
My investigation explored the concept of urban change and what makes places successful; specifically, what
makes high streets successful location. Historically our high streets were hubs where people could meet, shop,
enjoy leisure time and find employment. However, in recent decades many high streets have been in decline due to
reasons such as competition from out of town shopping centres and the growth of online shopping.
I am therefore exploring if Barnet High Street has the characteristics of a ‘successful’ high street, which would
attract shoppers. These characteristics include a wide range of retail outlets, an individual place identity and an
attractive and safe environment.
2. Selecting, measuring and recording data appropriate to the chosen enquiry
EQS→ 8 different aspects on a survey about environment and ranking system from +2 to -2. Scores then
added.
→ Stratified sampling. 3 surveys: one at north end, one in the middle and one at the south end in order to
cover majority of high street and focus on specific areas.
→ Justification: Environmental friendly high streets are vital to attracting more shoppers thus making it a
successful high street.
→ Limitation: Subjectivesness such as weather affecting the results e.g. sunny day meaning more positive
result.
, Retail Mapping → Used a key to classify and mark each shop on a base map to show the type of retail outlet
→ Continuous sampling of the ground floor use of all buildings
→ Justification: To see if there is a wide range of shops and also what proportion of the shops are vacant.
→ Limitation: Some shops don’t fit into categories and also maybe the second floor may have a different use.
Clone Town Survey → Recorded the type of shop and whether the shop is independently owned or part of a
chain.
→ Sampled the first 50 shops
→ Justification: To determine the high street’s individuality. The more individual the larger the sphere of
influence.
→ Limitation: First 50 shops may not be representative of whole high street and also not being aware if a
shop was a chain shop or independent.
Secondary Data Collection → Crime data collected from police.co.uk and frequency and types of crime then
compared to other high streets in nldn.
→ Sampled with data from April 2023 (last month available)
→ Justification: Allows you to find frequency of crime to determine safety of the area
→ Limitation: Cannot access data from the most recent month and so the data may not be representative of
other months.
3. Selecting appropriate ways of processing and presenting fieldwork data
PRESENTATION JUSTIFICATION LIMITATIONS
METHOD
Retail mapping Building codes A-T were → Clear visual representation → Can be time
categorised into similar which shows the range of consuming to create
groups, creating between 5-8 shops present → Retail uses had to be
groups. A colour was
assigned to each group and → Easy to spot dominant grouped as there were
the map was coloured in colours and clusters of not enough colours for
accordingly. particular types of land use each individual code.
because only 5-8 colours are
used
Environmental Radar Graphs → Trends in the data are → Circular layout:
quality survey clearly shown, with the largest quantitative values are
and lowest value variable being much easier to compare
easily identifiable. when they are laid out
→ Useful becaus a number of along a single vertical or
different independent variables horizontal axis.
can be plotted and shown on → Comparison of
the same graph observations can become
→ Quite to create using excel confusing if there arre
Human Fieldwork:
➔ TO WHAT EXTENT IS BARNET HIGH STREET A SUCCESSFUL HIGH STREET?
1. Suitable question for geographical enquiry
JUSTIFYING LOCATION
→ Accessible: able to walk to and from the site within the duration of one lesson
→ Suitable size: the area that was being surveyed could be travelled along by foot within the duration of the
lesson
→ Safe location: no serious safety hazards. Pelican and zebra crossings available so we can safely cross the road.
RISK ASSESSMENT:
Risk Probability of occurrence Severity Solution
Getting lost Unlikely Inconvenience Stay in group of minimum three
people and use the map
Causing annoyance to Sometimes Inconvenience Do not stand in places where you
members of public will be causing an obstruction
Getting run over on the Unlikely Major injury/fatal Stop, look, listen and cross at a safe
road place ie zebra/pelican crossing
HYPOTHESIS
My investigation explored the concept of urban change and what makes places successful; specifically, what
makes high streets successful location. Historically our high streets were hubs where people could meet, shop,
enjoy leisure time and find employment. However, in recent decades many high streets have been in decline due to
reasons such as competition from out of town shopping centres and the growth of online shopping.
I am therefore exploring if Barnet High Street has the characteristics of a ‘successful’ high street, which would
attract shoppers. These characteristics include a wide range of retail outlets, an individual place identity and an
attractive and safe environment.
2. Selecting, measuring and recording data appropriate to the chosen enquiry
EQS→ 8 different aspects on a survey about environment and ranking system from +2 to -2. Scores then
added.
→ Stratified sampling. 3 surveys: one at north end, one in the middle and one at the south end in order to
cover majority of high street and focus on specific areas.
→ Justification: Environmental friendly high streets are vital to attracting more shoppers thus making it a
successful high street.
→ Limitation: Subjectivesness such as weather affecting the results e.g. sunny day meaning more positive
result.
, Retail Mapping → Used a key to classify and mark each shop on a base map to show the type of retail outlet
→ Continuous sampling of the ground floor use of all buildings
→ Justification: To see if there is a wide range of shops and also what proportion of the shops are vacant.
→ Limitation: Some shops don’t fit into categories and also maybe the second floor may have a different use.
Clone Town Survey → Recorded the type of shop and whether the shop is independently owned or part of a
chain.
→ Sampled the first 50 shops
→ Justification: To determine the high street’s individuality. The more individual the larger the sphere of
influence.
→ Limitation: First 50 shops may not be representative of whole high street and also not being aware if a
shop was a chain shop or independent.
Secondary Data Collection → Crime data collected from police.co.uk and frequency and types of crime then
compared to other high streets in nldn.
→ Sampled with data from April 2023 (last month available)
→ Justification: Allows you to find frequency of crime to determine safety of the area
→ Limitation: Cannot access data from the most recent month and so the data may not be representative of
other months.
3. Selecting appropriate ways of processing and presenting fieldwork data
PRESENTATION JUSTIFICATION LIMITATIONS
METHOD
Retail mapping Building codes A-T were → Clear visual representation → Can be time
categorised into similar which shows the range of consuming to create
groups, creating between 5-8 shops present → Retail uses had to be
groups. A colour was
assigned to each group and → Easy to spot dominant grouped as there were
the map was coloured in colours and clusters of not enough colours for
accordingly. particular types of land use each individual code.
because only 5-8 colours are
used
Environmental Radar Graphs → Trends in the data are → Circular layout:
quality survey clearly shown, with the largest quantitative values are
and lowest value variable being much easier to compare
easily identifiable. when they are laid out
→ Useful becaus a number of along a single vertical or
different independent variables horizontal axis.
can be plotted and shown on → Comparison of
the same graph observations can become
→ Quite to create using excel confusing if there arre
