Watch: Introduction to researching fieldwork
Play the video to watch Ayesha and James visit a park to research their fieldwork investigation.
James: Ayesha, have you chosen what you want to find out during our visit?
Ayesha: There are so many things that I want to know! I could ask people if they enjoy coming to the park. If they think it's a nice place to be. Or if they would like to come to the park more often.
James: I suppose all the answers to those questions will be either 'yes' or 'no'. Like, 'Yes the park is a nice place to be'. Or, 'No, I don't enjoy coming to the park'.
Ayesha: Exactly! They're closed questions. That's when people have a list of answers to choose from.
James: I was going to ask people why they like coming to the park. You can't answer 'yes' or 'no' to that though, because there will be lots of different answers.
Ayesha: So it's an open question because that answer could be anything. For example: 'I like playing football'. Or 'I like to sit and read'.
James: You can count your 'yes' and 'no' answers. Just like I'm counting the number of spiders crawling up your leg!
Ayesha: Oh. What!?
James: Just kidding…
Ayesha: Phew!
James: My answers are going to be hard to count though.
Ayesha: My answers are easy to count. So it's simpler for me to create my graphs.The numbers I'll be collecting are called 'quantitative' data.
James: My data will be 'qualitative', which means it's tricky to count because there could be loads of different opinions as answers.
Ayesha: Hmm, that's going to be tricky to show in a graph, isn't it?
James: I could make it easier if I give people a list of answers to choose from.
Ayesha: Or you could draw a picture of all the things people like, or do some creative writing.
James: Whatever we do, we must stay safe. We should make sure we're always with the group in the park, and away from the road.
Ayesha: Yeah, it's important to think about the risks when you're out and about!Watch out!
James: Oh!
Fieldwork tips
Image caption, Planning your research
If you want to present your data in a table or graph you need to think of the types of questions you will ask.
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To carry out your investigation, you need to think about:
- what you want to find out
- what type of questions you will ask – open or closed
- what type of data you will collect – qualitative or quantitative
What is a closed question?
To find out people’s views during your fieldwork, you need to think of what types of questions to ask.
A closed question is where the answer is either yes or no, such as:
- Do you like to come to the park?
- Do you think dogs should be allowed in the park?
- The data you get from closed questions is called quantitative data.
- You can count the number, or quantity of people who have answered ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
- This kind of data is easy to make into a graph.
What is an open question?
Open questions are where the answer could be anything, such as:
- What do you like best about the park?
- Why do you like to come to the park?
- The data you get from open questions is called qualitative data.
- It is measured by the quality, not the quantity.
- This type of data is hard to make into a graph, unless you make a list of answers to choose from.
Activities
Activity 1: Make your own questionnaire
See if you can design a questionnaire using either open or closed questions to try out on friends and family and then make a graph from the results.
Activity 2: Quiz – Researching fieldwork
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