A group of students who were studying rural settlement in an MEDC decided to do some fieldwork in five local villages. They decided to test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: As the population of a village increases there is an increasing number of different types of service found there. Hypothesis 2: The three main reasons why people live in a village are the attractive scenery, peaceful location and the fact that they were born there.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2011). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [2] (a)(i) Examples Census figures (1) NOT carry out a census OR Electoral roll (1) OR Estimate by counting the number of houses & multiplying by 2 or 3 (1) Use records (1) OR Use guidebooks (1) OR Use the internet (1)
2. [2] (a)(ii) NO MARK FOR METHOD CHOSEN Examples: Method A Easy to compare total number of services in different villages (1) / Easy to record during fieldwork (1) / None will be missed out / wider range likely (1) / Needs less preparation (1) OR Method B Easy to group for comparing / graphing / classifying (1) / Only need to find one example of each service (1) / Easier to tick boxes (1) / All will be looking for same services (1) / Less time-consuming than A (1) ALSO credit if choose one then give disadvantages of other.
3. [1] (a)(iii) Examples of disadvantages: Lack of consistency in methodology between different pairs. (1) OR Safety / supervision aspects of two students in a village. (1) OR May be too much for 1 pair / too little for others. (1) OR Only get results of 1 village (1)
4. [1] (b)(i) All three (café, general store, post box) ticked correctly. Do not need the small x putting in.
5. [1] (b)(ii) Total = 6.
6. [1] (b)(iii) Railway station
7. [1] (b)(iv) Population / number / size of population on horizontal axis.
8. [1] (b)(v) Results for Ince (1500 population / 9 types of service) plotted on Fig. 6. No need to label Ince.
9. [3] (b)(vi) Look for three statements that support the decision but credit use of data to 2 max. but data not essential; can be 3 statements. Examples There is a positive relationship / correlation / directly proportional (1) OR Ince / the largest village / the village with largest population has most different types of service. (1) OR Stanley / the smallest village / the village with smallest population has least different types of service (1) OR Ince has a population of 1500; Stanley has 40 (1D) OR Ince has 1500 population more than twice any other village (1D) OR Stanley only has 40 population – next highest is 234 (1D) OR Ince has 9 services; Stanley has 1 (1D) OR Stanley has only 1 type of service; others all have 3 or more (1D) OR Albany has second largest population and number of types of service (1) OR Mead has a smaller population and fewer types of service than larger villages (1) [(3 x 1) or (2 + 1D) or 1 + 2D = 3]
10. [2] (b)(vii) Examples: allow two separate points or one elaborated or one with example. More people / higher population to support higher order services / more services (1) OR More customers in larger villages / to meet needs of villagers (1) OR More people / customers so may be more profit / good for business (1) OR More customers so higher threshold population for extra services (1) OR Larger villages will also contain lower order services (1) [(2 x 1) or (1 + 1) = 2]
11. [3] (c)(i) 1. Born in the village (1) OR 2. Good access to motorway (1) OR 3. Attractive scenery (1)
12. [2] (c)(ii) Plotting on Fig. 7 (Retirement 20 + Low Crime rate = 6). No tolerance here. OR 1 mark each for accurate bars; no credit for shading.
13. [4] (c)(iii) Hypothesis is incorrect / these are not the main reasons why people live in Bethel / disagree with hypothesis – 1 mark reserved for hypothesis. OR If agree / partially agree with hypothesis no marks at all. OR If no decision credit correct evidence for hypothesis being incorrect. OR Evidence should include data or rankings (1 Data mark Reserved for identifying ranks or including data – but can credit up to 2 max) OR These factors have low rankings / lowest numbers (1) OR Attractive scenery is rank 6, they were born there is rank 4 and peaceful location is rank 8 (1) OR 24/25% / only a quarter / 28/113 chose the factors in the hypothesis (1) OR Other reasons are more important – especially good access to motorway / retirement / cheaper house prices. (1) OR 59/60% / over half / 67/113 surveyed chose three more important reasons (1) [(1HA + 2 + 1D) or (1HA + 1 + 2D) = 4]
14. [2] (d) Examples People refusing / don't want to answer / unwilling / privacy / too busy (1) OR Not finding enough people to make the survey valid / reliable (1) OR Survey may be biased by not interviewing people at work / some not at home (1) OR Survey may contain a large proportion of retired people / people at home (1) OR Language difficulties / local dialect problems to understand the survey / Q / A (1) OR Take a long time to survey 113 people / in Bethel (1)
15. [4] (e) 1 mark reserved for suitable investigation into village changes and 3 marks for HOW it could be done. Investigation examples: Examples: CHANGE in buildings / traffic flows / travel patterns / employment / shops & services / community activity / sphere of influence / quality of life – How it could be done: Focus on how could investigate change with past or into future. Old / current maps (1) OR Old / current photographs (1) OR Interviews or questionnaires with residents about past to present (1) OR Study of local workplaces and past work (1) OR Observe new housing and previous land-use (1) OR Record the information (1) Allow 1 mark for hypothesis plus 1 max for a suitable investigation that is NOT a change Examples, Investigate types of buildings, quality of services, air pollution, noise pollution – If investigation not suitable or none suggested no further marks Population changes, effect of a ring road, influence of cities, living conditions, services today – any that could NOT realistically be carried out in a village in a MEDC.