Geography Independent Investigation

NEA - Non-Examined Assessment

Student Guidebook

This guidebook has been written to help you get the best grade possible by sharing ideas based upon the Geography
department’s experience of marking NEAs over the years. For example, there are nuances in the mark scheme that
are easily overlooked, so this guidebook aims to cover all bases. However, just blindly following this guidebook does
not guarantee a top grade. For example, presenting your data in a variety of impressive ways is all for nothing if it
doesn’t help you to answer your enquiry question or, similarly, using statistical tests is pointless unless you are able
to interpret the results.

Students’ NEAs tend to be structured in five major sections and in the following order:

1. Title page (page 1)

2. Introduction (page 1)
3. Methodology (page 2)
4. Data presentation (page 4)
5. Data analysis (page 9)
6. Conclusion (page 13)
7. Evaluation (page 13)
8. Appendix (page 14)

This guidebook will give you suggestions on what to include in each of the above sections, but this is ultimately your
own piece of work, so you can take or leave the advice given within this booklet. The aim is to give you suggestions
of how you might structure your work and what you might want to include.

One of the key sources used to help produce this guidebook was the excellent student guide written by the Royal
Geographic Association which can be found by searching the internet for “A Student Guide to the A Level
Independent Investigation”.

1. Title page
It is important that you clearly state your title. This could be done on a title page, on which you should also list the
contents of your NEA. Remember, your NEA will also need page numbers.

2. Introduction
The Introduction should help clearly layout the aims of your investigation, specify the sub-questions that you hope
to answer, clearly state your hypotheses, discuss the background theory to the study, and locate the fieldwork study
site(s).

Aims of the study

One of the first things you can do in your introduction is state the broad aims of the study – what things you hope to
achieve.

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Links to the specification

You should make it clear how your independent investigation fits into the AQA specification. Which strands does it
link to and how? You may find that it links to areas of the course outside of the obvious topic, e.g. sand dunes are
part of the Coasts topic but the theory of seres and succession also relates to the Water & Carbon Cycles topic.

Background theory

Before stating your research questions and hypotheses, it is important to provide the geographical context to your
study through a discussion of what you have read in your background reading. This is known as a Literature Review.
Citing from a wide range of sources, a Literature Review should aim to:

 Show what is already known about your topic by geographers

 Show any models or theories in relation to your topic
 Show where gaps in the existing geographical knowledge occur (and how your study aims to fill them)
 Suggest why it is important to study this particular topic

In order to avoid plagiarism, it is important to remember to reference any published work which you are using in this
section. Remember to reference any diagrams or graphs that you have used from secondary sources. You should aim
to use a range of sources, including books, journals, websites and newspapers. It is advisable to reference your
sources using footnotes and Harvard Referencing.

The introduction should also include a justification for the investigation. This should explain to the reader why it is
important that studies such as yours are done and what value they might hold in the wider geographical world.

Research questions and hypotheses

If well written and comprehensive, the Literature Review should naturally lead the reader to consider the Research
Questions and Hypotheses.

Although your investigation title will be your key question, it should be broken down further into sub-questions that
can be tested.

A hypothesis is an idea or explanation that can be tested through study and experimentation. A well written
hypothesis is clear, directional and measurable. You should consider having smaller hypotheses, i.e. for each of the
sub-questions.

You should also have a clear null hypothesis – a statement that can be tested that assumes there is no relationship
between two variables.

Location

The Location of your study should also be explored. This can be done through a written description as well as visually
through a series of linked maps, showing the location of the research at increasingly more detailed scales. Use of
mapping websites can be useful here as can GIS packages; ask your teacher about what is available.

3. Methodology
When deciding upon the title of your independent investigation, it is important that you have carefully considered
how you will collect enough fieldwork to provide you with 3 or 4 sets of primary data.

In the Methodology section, you should be describing how you collected your fieldwork data (including what
equipment you used), justifying why you did it, detailing your sample size and sampling technique, considering
alternative methods, explaining how you made sure it was fair and how you avoided bias, and any limitations of your
methodology.
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There are a variety of sensible ways to layout your Methodology, including using a table with a variety of column
headers to ensure you have covered all the key areas.

Description of fieldwork collection technique

It is important that the description of how you collected fieldwork is so clear and detailed that a non-geographer
could replicate your fieldwork data collection. Think of it as a ‘set of instructions’ that someone else could follow. For
example, if you used a clinometer to measure angles between ranging poles, you should clearly state at what height
you held the clinometer. You should mention all of the equipment that you used, the time/date and location of the
study, etc. Be as detailed as possible. You must also make it clear in this section how you tried to ensure your results
were accurate.

Sample size and sampling technique

It is important to consider the sample size. The larger the sample size, the more reliable the fieldwork data will be –
it will be more representative and lead to more reliable conclusions. However, a larger sample size takes more time.
You should justify why you chose a specific sample size.

It is very important to describe and justify the sampling technique that you used. While there are many different
sampling techniques, there are three common methods used frequently by researchers:

 Random sampling is where sources of data are chosen in a completely haphazard way. Once the size of the
sample has been decided, researchers use random number generators, which can be found online, to give
completely random sets of numbers. These can then be used to create grid references for data collection
sites on a map or tell researchers which house numbers to survey within a street, for example. Though
randomly generated numbers take a human choice element out of the sampling process and so reduce the
chance of human bias in the results, random sampling in general is not always suitable for small sampling
frames as there are limited choices to be had.
 Systematic sampling is where sources of data are chosen in a completely non-random way. Here the size of
the sample may not necessarily be decided before the sampling begins as the chosen system itself may
create the sample size on its own. The interval size between sampling points (distance on a map, or every n th
person in a survey) is chosen by the researcher and stuck to without compromise. The benefits of systematic
sampling are that the researcher is largely removed from the selection process and therefore bias can be
avoided.
 Stratified sampling involves splitting the sample frame into smaller groups or ‘strata’ and using these strata
to ‘weight’ the sample chosen accordingly to represent the original sampling frame. For example, if it is
known that 30% of a people in a particular area were of a certain age group or religion, you might want to
ensure that 30% of your questionnaire respondents were of that specific age group or religion, and so you
would use a stratified sampling technique to ensure that this is the case. Many researchers believe that
stratified sampling represents the most unbiased of the three techniques mentioned here as the sample
becomes a true representation of the original sampling frame.

It may be possible, depending on the exact nature of your research, to combine different sampling techniques
together. For example, you may choose to draw a random transect line across a data collection site on a map, but
then use a systematic or stratified sampling technique to choose the exact points of data collection thereafter.

Also, you should consider the need to do repeats, i.e. the same data collection technique multiple times to ensure
reliability of data. Make it clear in your methodology how many times you repeated the data collection, if at all.

Justification of data collection

You need to make it clear what the purpose was of your data collection. This should be linked back to the aims of
your study and your sub-questions. For example, you might do a questionnaire because you felt it was important to
gather the opinion of local people, who might have a better understanding of the issues than you do as an outsider.

How you made sure it was fair and how you avoided bias
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This might not need its own separate section as you might have already answered this elsewhere in your
methodology, but it’s important to consider how you ensured that your data collection was fair and unbiased. Note:
Biased data is when the integrity of the data in question has in some way been compromised as a result of the way
in which it has been collected. For example, you should think carefully about the wording of your questionnaire
(avoid ‘leading’ questions such as “Why is the area better after regeneration?”) or how you collected data on stone
sizes or vegetation type (you wouldn’t just collect stones that you ‘liked the look of’). This should be strongly linked
to your sampling techniques.

Limitations

Inevitably there will be drawbacks to some of your data collection techniques. This section gives you the opportunity
to admit any weaknesses or limitations in your data collection. You could also mention how you tried to overcome
those weaknesses. For example, does your methodology lead to completely accurate results? If not, why? Consider
factors such as the time of day (or the time of year) during which you conducted your fieldwork – might that have
affected your results?

Alternative methods

Inevitably there might be other ways that you could have collected the same data. You should consider mentioning
those alternative methods. You might choose to explain why you discounted those options, e.g. maybe they were
too time-consuming or involved expensive fieldwork equipment that you did not have access to.

4. Data presentation
It is worth noting that the Data Analysis section is commonly written up at the same time, and alongside, the Data
Presentation.

Presenting data involves using a variety of different graphs and other techniques to visually show the reader the
relationship between different data sets, to emphasise the nature of a particular aspect of the data or to
geographically ‘place’ data appropriately on a map. The primary reason for presenting your data is to demonstrate to
the reader of your study that you can select the data most appropriate for answering your research questions and
graphically work with the data to highlight correlations and relationships.

There are numerous ways you can present your data, some simple and some more complex. You should aim to
include a wide variety of data presentation techniques, although it is vital that you think carefully about whether
your data presentation technique is appropriate. Much of your data presentation can be completed using IT
software such as Microsoft Excel, but you might also choose to present some of your data by hand.

Some of the most impressive NEAs in previous years have featured unique and bespoke data presentation skills
created by the student, tailored to the data that they have collected.

General tips

 Give each of your data presentation techniques a clear and specific title. This should include things like the
location, date, units, etc.
 Each of your graphs/maps/etc. should be assigned a figure number. These should run in numerical order
from the start of the study to the end. Figure numbers makes it easier to refer to a graph, especially if it is on
a previous page. Use automatic figure numbering, rather than adding details manually.
 Label each axis (and include units).
 Try to avoid using the same data presentation technique too many times. Are there different ways you could
present the data?
 Include a key and use contrasting colours for different lines on your graphs – it should be easy to read.

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  Don’t just rely on Microsoft Excel’s graphs wizard/recommendations. Think carefully about the best way to
present your data. For example, a line graph is unsuitable for discreet data. Meanwhile, if you are using a bar
graph to show discreet data, it might be best to ensure that the bars are not touching.

Examples of data presentation techniques

If you want more information about the data presentation techniques below, e.g. worked examples or the types of
data that lends itself to each graph, then please do an internet search for “A Student Guide to the A Level
Independent Investigation” to bring up the excellent guidebook written by the Royal Geographic Association.

Bar and column charts: Comparative bar charts:

(Discrete data; leave gaps)

Composite bar charts: Histograms:

(Continuous data; no gaps)

Bipolar bar charts: Proportional shapes and symbols:

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 Flow lines: Dot maps:

Pie charts: Tree maps:

Scattergraphs: Line graphs:

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Compound line graphs: Box and whisker graphs:

Kite diagrams: Triangular graphs:

Radial diagrams: Rose graphs:

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 Isoline maps: Choropleth maps:

Photograph annotations: Qualitative data quotations:

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 5. Data analysis

The data analysis stage involves interpreting and manipulating the data to make it more meaningful and easier to
understand. You will need to identify key trends or patterns in your data, and relationships between data sets. This
needs to be done so that you can begin to answer your research questions. The Data Analysis section is commonly
done alongside the Data Presentation section.

When analysing data, it is important to use statistics to try to identify relationships between variables and to judge
how significant these relationships actually are. Some statistical methods are relatively straightforward (e.g.
calculating the mean, median, mode, range, percentage change, etc). However, you should try to use more in-depth
statistical tests to help properly explain your results. This might seem daunting if Maths isn’t your strong point but
the instructions in this guidebook are designed to help you.

A summary of some statistical techniques and their uses is highlighted below:

Name of technique Use Use with data presentation

techniques
Measures of central To show the most common  Bar chart
tendency observed data  Radial graph
Measures of proportion To find out what proportion of a  Pie chart
whole the data is representing  Triangular graph
 Composite bar chart
 Proportional shape map
Dispersion To show the frequency of data  Box and Whisker graph
around a central idea  Line graph
Spearman’s Rank Correlation To show the strength and nature of  Scatter graph
a correlation between two sets of
data
Chi-Squared Test To show how closely observed data  Bar chart
matches data that is expected  Histogram
Mann Whitney U Test To show whether two data samples  Choropleth map
are significantly different from one  Line graph
another  Scatter graph

How to analyse

Data analysis is not simply a case of repetitively stating what a graph shows. Instead, your analysis should follow the
GSE approach:

 Identify General trends and patterns

 Highlight Specific things of interest within the data
 Comment on any Exceptions (i.e. anomalies) and give Examples

You need to ensure that you are critically analysing the data. This means you should try to interpret the data. What
does your fieldwork data mean? Also, you should use connectives such as ‘however’ or ‘on the other hand’ to
consider alternative interpretations of your data.

Your analysis should make it clear whether the results were what you were expecting. Also, do the results help to
support your hypotheses? You must refer back to your hypothesis in your writing.
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Some students choose to structure their analysis section by looking at each sub-question (or sub-hypothesis) in turn,
using appropriate sub-headings.

After reading your data analysis, the reader and marker of your independent investigation should be left with no
surprises as to the type of conclusions you will be making later on within your NEA.

Statistical tests

Measures of central tendency

 Mean: The mean is the sum of all the values in the data set divided by the number of values within the data
set. Be aware that the mean can be greatly influenced by an anomaly within the data set.
 Median: The median is the middle value when the data set is placed in value order. If there are an odd
number of values in the data set, the middle value is taken as the median. If there are an even number of
values in the data set, the mid-point between the two middle values is taken as the median. Identifying the
median is only possible when the data set can be ordered. Using the median can offset the possible
problems associated with outliers and anomalous data values.
 Mode: The mode is the value which occurs most often. It is important to remember when using the mode
that it does not always represent the centre of a distribution. Identifying the mode is not always possible for
all data sets – continuous data for example may produce a mode that is meaningless as there may be one
frequency of every value. In some data sets there may be more than one mode, making the use of this
analysis impractical.

Measures of dispersion

The range of values over which a data set is found can tell you a lot about the degree of consensus within the data.
This is known as dispersion and can be measured using some statistical analyses.

 Dispersion: The spread of the data around the mean. This can be expressed in several ways and analysed
using standard deviation and/or interquartile range.
 Range: Is the difference between the highest and lowest values.
 Interquartile range: Is the part of the range that covers the middle 50% of the data, calculated by taking
away the lower quartile value from the upper quartile value.

Standard Deviation

The standard deviation of a data set is a measure of the extent to which the range of its values differ from the mean
value.

 A low standard deviation tells the reader that the values of the data set are close to the mean, and the
range of the set is relatively low. This means that the reliability of any conclusions you draw, by using the
mean as your indicator, will be higher.
 A high standard deviation dictates that the values of the data set are spread out over a wider range and are
relatively far from the mean. Therefore, any conclusions that are drawn using the mean as an indicator, will
be more tenuous and less reliable.

The size of a single standard deviation on its own is somewhat meaningless, but when one compares it with another
data set (such as that of another geographical site) the standard deviation starts to have more meaning.

Calculating the standard deviation for a data set is a little complicated and for very large data sets it is worth
considering entering the data first into a spreadsheet which will allow you to carry out each stage of the calculation
to all of the values at once.

For a step-by-step guide to identifying the standard deviation for a relatively small data set, please see page 91 of
the Royal Geographic Survey Student Guidebook.

The formula for calculating Standard Deviation is as follows:

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Statistical tests

Spearman’s Rank Correlation Test

The Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient is a statistical test that examines the degree to which two data sets are
correlated, if at all. It is a useful test to use for questions involving relationships between data. While a scatter graph
of the two data sets may give the researcher a hint towards whether the two have a correlation, Spearman’s Rank
gives the researcher a numerical value on the degree of correlation, or indeed, the degree of non-correlation. It is a
relatively straight forward analysis for those researchers whom are not wholly confident in their mathematical skills.

In order to use Spearman’s Rank the researcher must have paired sets of data that are in some way related (such as
the geographical site where they were collected in the field). It is a good idea for the researcher to have at least ten
pairs of data to use for the analysis: any fewer than this and the result will be highly insignificant and more likely to
be as a result of chance than of true correlation.

For a step-by-step guide to calculating Spearman’s Rank, please see page 97 of the Royal Geographic Survey Student
Guidebook.

There are 3 steps to take when using the Spearman’s Rank Correlation Test:

Step 1. State the null hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between _______ and _______

Step 2. Calculate the Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient

Step 3. Test the significance of the result

Compare the value of rs that you have calculated against the critical value for r s at a confidence level of 95% /
significance value of p = 0.05.

If rs is equal to or above the critical value (p = 0.05) then you can reject the null hypothesis. There is a significant
relationship between the 2 variables.

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A positive sign for rs indicates a significant positive relationship and a negative sign indicates a significant negative
relationship.

If rs (ignoring any positive or negative sign) is less than the critical value, accept the null hypothesis. There is no
significant relationship between the 2 variables.

Chi-squared test

A researcher would use the Chi-Squared test when their data is showing the frequency of an occurrence of
something. This test only checks to see if there is an association between two sets of data, not what the nature of
the relationship might be between those sets, nor the strength of any relationship.

The chi squared test can only be used if:

 the data are in the form of frequencies in a number of categories (i.e. nominal data).
 there are more than 20 observations in total
 the observations are independent: one observation does not affect another

For a step-by-step guide to calculating Chi-squared, please see page 100 of the Royal Geographic Survey Student
Guidebook.

There are 3 steps to take when using the chi squared test.

Step 1. State the null hypothesis

There is no significant association between _______ and _______

Step 2. Calculate the chi squared statistic

Step 3. Test the significance of the result

Compare your calculated value of χ2 against the critical value for χ2 at a confidence level of 95% / significance value
of P = 0.05, and appropriate degrees of freedom.

Degrees of freedom = (number of rows – 1) × (number of columns – 1)

If Chi Squared is equal to or greater than the critical value, reject the null hypothesis. There is a significant difference
between the observed and expected values.

If Chi Squared is less than the critical value, accept the null hypothesis. There is no significant difference between
the observed and expected values.

Mann Whitney U test

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The Mann-Whitney U Test is used to analyse whether two data samples are significantly different from one another
or whether any differences are simply due to chance. It is useful for comparison questions/investigations.

The Mann Whitney U test can only be used if there are at least 6 pairs of data. It does not require a normal
distribution.

For a step-by-step guide to conducting the Mann Whitney U test, please see page 111 of the Royal Geographic
Survey Student Guidebook.

There are 3 steps to take when using the Mann Whitney U test.

Step 1. State the null hypothesis

There is no significant difference between _______ and _______

Step 2. Calculate the Mann Whitney U statistic

Step 3. Test the significance of the result

Compare the value of U against the critical value for U at a confidence level of 95% / significance value of P = 0.05.

If U is equal to or smaller than the critical value (p=0.05) the reject the null hypothesis. There is a significant
difference between the 2 data sets.

If U is greater than the critical value, then accept the null hypothesis. There is not a significant difference between
the 2 data sets.

6. Conclusion

The conclusion is an extremely important part of your NEA as it is within this section that you will be firmly
answering your title question. You will need to draw upon all of your fieldwork findings to reach a firm conclusion.

It is important that you use data to back-up your argument, rather than just making vague statements. Rather than
repeating what you’ve already written in your Data Analysis section, you should be summarising the key findings. No
new data or theories should be presented in the conclusion

It is a good idea to link the findings of the study to the background theory by showing how the investigation extends
geographical knowledge or how it confirms it within the location or setting of the study.

Also, you will need to answer each of your sub-questions, again using data to support your arguments. You could use
your sub-questions as sub-headings within the conclusion. This shows good organisation of your work.

You should regularly refer back to your hypothesis. Are you able to accept your hypothesis? Or should you accept
your null hypothesis?

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The conclusion should be a significant piece of writing, not just a paragraph or two.

7. Evaluation

The evaluation section of the Independent Investigation is your chance to reflect purposefully on both the reliability
of the study and its limitations. You should consider all stages of the investigation, from the choice of research
questions to the analysis methods you have deployed.

The limitations of your data collection methods are likely to form the main part of the evaluation but it is also
important that you consider your data presentation methods – were they appropriate? Could they be improved?

Don’t be afraid to admit problems you encountered within your Independent Investigation. You will not be marked
down for admitting problems. In fact, you will gain marks for being open and honest about any weaknesses, and for
considering ways of improving your study if you were to do it again.

It is common for students to rush their evaluation but it is an important section which allows for relatively easy
marks to be gained, so spend an appropriate amount of time on it.

Limitations

Your evaluation will need to consider the limitations of your investigation. You may have considered some of the
data collection limitations in your Methodology, so you could summarise the main points again here, but also
consider limitations in terms of Data Presentation and Data Analysis. Try to look beyond just limitations within the
data collection stage.

Extensions to the study

You may want to write about what you would have done differently had you had more time or different resources,
as well as how you could extend the study and what logically you could do next if you were to continue researching.
It is common practice to think about repeating the investigation at a different time of the year, or in a different
location. You should also explain why you believe this might be useful and draw on the wider context of your
investigation established through your reading and research.

Strengths

Don’t forget to also comment on the strengths of your work, as well as how you avoided pitfalls and potential
problems.

Ethical issues

The reader and marker of your study will expect to see that you have considered the potential ethical problems
associated with carrying out your research. The evaluation is a good place to include this if you have not done so in
earlier sections. This means you think about the ethical impact you, as a researcher, have had on people and the
environment within your study, as well as the impact ethically that your study and the nature of your research has
had more broadly.

8. Appendix

It is not always necessary to have an Appendix section, but you might choose to use an Appendix to include the
following:

 Workings for any statistical tests that have been used.

 Examples of primary data collection, e.g. a completed questionnaire or Environmental Quality Survey (EQS).
 Raw data summary tables.
 Examples of secondary data, e.g. newspaper articles.
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The Appendix shows that your work has been organised and sorted, and it might be useful for the examiner in case
they want to see evidence of the above. However, be aware of your NEA becoming unwieldy and difficult to bind.
The Appendix should be relatively short and concise.

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