The geographical skills embedded across the qualification (cartographic, graphical, statistical and qualitative); the four days of fieldwork; and the geographical fieldwork investigation (NEA), including the enquiry process, sampling and evaluation.

What this dot point is asking

AQA assesses geographical skills across the whole qualification and requires a geographical fieldwork investigation (the non-examined assessment, or NEA) worth 20 percent of the A-Level. This dot covers the skills you must master (cartographic, graphical, statistical and qualitative), the four days of fieldwork, and how the independent investigation works, from forming a question to evaluating the findings.

Geographical skills embedded across the qualification

AQA tests skills as AO3 in both written papers, through data-response and resource questions, and most fully in the investigation. You must be confident with:

• Cartographic skills: reading and using Ordnance Survey and other maps, GIS, choropleth, proportional-symbol, isoline and flow-line maps.
• Graphical skills: line, bar, scatter and pie charts, plus specialist forms such as logarithmic, triangular and kite diagrams and dispersion graphs.
• Statistical skills: measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and dispersion (range, interquartile range, standard deviation), percentage change, and inferential tests, notably Spearman's rank correlation with significance testing against critical values.
• Qualitative skills: using interviews, oral accounts, photographs, text and lived experience.

Fieldwork

Students complete a minimum of four days of fieldwork across the two years, covering both physical and human geography. Fieldwork develops the practical skills (sampling, measurement, observation, recording) that underpin both the written papers and the independent investigation, and it gives the primary data on which the NEA is built.

The geographical fieldwork investigation (NEA)

It is structured through the enquiry process:

1. Question or hypothesis: a tightly scoped, geographical question linked to the specification.
2. Methodology: justified sampling (random, systematic or stratified), measurement methods and risk assessment.
3. Data collection: primary fieldwork data plus relevant secondary data.
4. Presentation: appropriate maps, graphs and tables.
5. Analysis: applying statistical and qualitative techniques to identify and explain patterns.
6. Conclusion: answering the original question with evidence.
7. Evaluation: critically reviewing reliability, validity, limitations, error and how to improve, the stage where the highest marks concentrate.

Sampling strategies

Choosing and justifying a sampling strategy is central:

• Random: every point has an equal chance; avoids bias but can cluster or miss areas.
• Systematic: every nth point or a fixed grid/transect; even coverage and simple, but can miss periodic patterns.
• Stratified: sampling identified sub-groups in proportion; ensures all relevant categories are represented in a varied population.

The strategy must fit the aim and population of the enquiry, and the justification is itself credited.

Try this

Q1. Name three sampling strategies. [3 marks]

• Cue. Random, systematic and stratified sampling.

Q2. Explain why a Spearman's rank result must be tested for significance. [3 marks]

• Cue. A correlation could arise by chance, especially with a small sample; comparing it with the critical value shows whether it is statistically significant.

Q3. Explain why the evaluation stage is important in the investigation. [3 marks]

• Cue. It critically reviews reliability, limitations and error and judges confidence in the conclusion, demonstrating the higher-order skills the NEA rewards.