Students from a popular tourist town in England wanted to find out how tourism affected traffic in the town. They decided to do a traffic survey to investigate this issue. Each student chose different hypotheses to investigate. One student tested the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Cars are the main category (type) of vehicle in the town throughout the day. Hypothesis 2: The percentage of tourist coaches varies during the day.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2019). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [5] To get consistency / to be fair / use for equal or same length of time / compare same time period (1) To get total no. of vehicles passing the site / one direction may be busier / make sure all vehicles included (1) To know which category to record vehicles / all count same type of vehicle (1) To make counting accurate / easy to do / quick / doesn't lose track of numbers (1) To provide data to plot / graph / analyse / calculate average / compare / so it is recorded / data not forgotten / gives evidence of work (1)
2. [1] Taxi (1)
3. [1] The number of cars goes down (1)
4. [3] Completion of tally chart: Data: Motorbike 10, Taxi 4, Bicycle 3. 1 mark for three correct tally marks (must be in batches of 5 for Motorbike) 1 mark for three correct category totals in final column 1 mark for total of all vehicles, i.e. 81
5. [3] Completion of divided bar graph; 1 mark for two correct dividing lines at 83 and 92 from bottom 1 mark for two correct dividing lines at 95 and 98 from bottom 1 mark for correct shading of 5 groups using key
6. [1] 19.30–20.00 OR 7.30–8pm (1)
7. [4] Hypothesis is false / incorrect – 1 mark reserve There are two survey times when cars are over 50% OR majority / half of total OR three survey times when cars are the most / highest percentage (1) But these times are at the start and end of the day / at 8.30 and 17.30 OR 19.30/ cars not main type throughout the day (1) Coaches are main type / more than cars at 10.30 and 15.30 OR two times / cars are not main type at 10.30 and 15.30 (1) Lorries / vans are main type / more than cars at one survey time / 12.30 (1) Credit data for 1 mark MAX. / RESERVE. Only credit percentages not numbers as referred to graph not table. e.g. cars 56% at 8.30 but only 15% at 15.30 (1) e.g. coaches 47% at 15.30 but cars only 15% (1) e.g. lorries / vans 33% at 12.30 but cars 29% (1)
8. [2] Cars: 1 mark MAX. People travelling to work / going home from work / commuting (1) Tourists arriving and departing (1) Lorries / vans: 1 mark MAX. Deliveries to shops / businesses (1) Moving goods during the working day (1)
9. [3] No mark for decision; candidates are told it is TRUE. Mark evidence. Tourist coaches increase / peak / highest at 10.30 OR 15.30 (1) Fewer / decrease in coaches at 8.30 / 12.30 / 17.30 / no coaches at 19.30 (1) Credit paired data showing variations to 1 max. / reserve to compare two survey times e.g. 47% at 10.30 and 9% at 17.30 (1) e.g. 47% at 10.30 and 0% at 19.30 (1) STATS for ref: 8.30 9%, 10.30 47%, 12.30 12%, 15.30 47%, 17.30 9%, 19.30 0%
10. [3] Only accept one of these sampling methods. If name incorrect or missing give credit for correct description of one of the methods to max. 2. Stratified: (1 reserve) Gender / age balance (1) Appropriate to population of town / socio-economic status / different areas of town (1) Systematic: (1 reserve) Regular intervals / regular pattern (1) Every tenth/nth person (1) Random: (1 reserve) Ask anybody / next person / no pattern Use random number tables / pick numbers out of a hat to generate order to ask people (1) If number 6 selected ask the 6th person (1)
11. [4] Advantages: Easier / quicker for pedestrians to walk around centre / more room to walk (1) No traffic to avoid / less traffic jams (1) Safer for pedestrians / less accidents / more pleasant (1) Less noise (1) Less air pollution / fumes / less breathing problems (1) NOT less pollution Opportunities for pavement displays (1) Disadvantages: Further to walk to shops from car parks / can't get to centre in cars (1) Harder to access taxis / buses (1) Goods / shopping to be carried further (1) Traffic forced to go around town centre / further distance / longer journey (1) Creates congestion on roads round town centre (1)