The independent investigation as a route to enquiry; choosing a question and hypotheses; the structure and marking of the non-examined assessment; and the fieldwork requirement.

What this dot point is asking

Eduqas wants you to understand the independent investigation as a route to enquiry, to choose a focused question and hypotheses, to know the structure and marking of the non-examined assessment, and to meet the fieldwork requirement.

The answer

The route to enquiry and the non-examined assessment

The independent investigation is the part of Eduqas A-Level Geography that you research and write yourself, worth a fifth of the qualification. It is a 3,000 to 4,000 word report (excluding bibliography and appendices) on a fieldwork-based enquiry of your own design, and it can be based on any part of the specification, physical, human or the people-environment overlap, though Component 1 (landscapes and places) is a common starting point. The teacher advises on title and feasibility, but you take responsibility for the design and execution. The whole report is structured by the route to enquiry.

Choosing a question and hypotheses

The question is the single most important decision. It must be focused (not "how does the coast work?" but a narrow, testable enquiry), geographical (rooted in a concept from the specification), and feasible (answerable with data you can realistically gather safely and ethically). Good hypotheses turn the question into testable predictions, giving every later stage, sampling, presentation, statistics, a clear target. A vague or over-broad question undermines the whole enquiry, which is why examiners reward a sharp, theory-linked question.

Structure, marking and the fieldwork requirement

The report follows the enquiry stages: introduction (question, hypotheses, location, theory), methodology (data collection and justification), data presentation and analysis, conclusions (answering the hypotheses) and evaluation (reliability, validity, limitations and improvements). It is marked against four assessment objectives: AO1 (knowledge and understanding of concepts and processes), AO2 (application, interpretation and analysis), AO3 (geographical and statistical skills, including fieldwork and data handling) and the construction of argument and conclusions. The specification requires at least four days of fieldwork across the two-year course, covering both physical and human geography, which supports the skills in Components 1 and 2 as well as the investigation. The highest marks reward critical reflection, not description.

Examples in context

Example 1. A coastal investigation. A common Eduqas independent investigation tests coastal processes on an accessible beach, for example whether sediment size, beach gradient or wave energy changes along a stretch of coast in response to longshore drift. The student sets a focused question and hypotheses linked to Component 1 coastal theory, uses systematic sampling along a transect, measures pebble long-axis size and gradient, presents results as scatter graphs and located bar charts, and applies a statistical test such as Spearman's rank. It follows the full route to enquiry on safe local ground and links directly to the changing-landscapes content.

Example 2. An urban or rural change investigation. Another frequent enquiry examines changing places, for example variation in environmental quality, pedestrian flow, or deprivation across districts of a town or city, or the impact of regeneration on a neighbourhood. The student combines primary data (environmental quality surveys, questionnaires, counts) with secondary data (census, indices of deprivation), uses stratified sampling to represent different areas, presents spatial patterns with choropleth maps, and applies a test such as Mann-Whitney U to compare two areas. This human-geography enquiry follows the same justified, evaluated route to enquiry and meets the requirement to use both quantitative and qualitative evidence.

Try this

Q1. State the stages of the route to enquiry. [3 marks]

• Cue. Question and hypotheses; data collection and sampling; presentation and analysis; conclusions; evaluation.

Q2. Explain why a focused question is essential to a good investigation. [3 marks]

• Cue. A focused, geographical, answerable question keeps the enquiry feasible and gives every later stage (sampling, presentation, statistics, conclusions) a clear target, whereas a vague or over-broad question undermines the whole investigation.