Students in the UK wanted to investigate how areas of their city were different from each other. In particular they decided to find out about differences in the quality of the urban environment and access to local services. The students selected six sites to do their fieldwork in different areas of the city. These are shown in Fig. 15 (Insert). The students decided to test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: The quality of the urban environment improves as distance from the city centre increases. Hypothesis 2: Access to local services is better further away from the city centre.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2017). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. 8(a)(i) Used a bi-polar analysis (1); Write name of area on sheet (1); Observe / look at / see features (1); Make a decision about / rate / judge / give a score (1); Put a tick / fill in the appropriate column / record on sheet (1)
2. 8(a)(ii) Decide whether to survey individually or in a group / pairs (1); Agree where each group goes / decide which sites to go to (1); Agree on what descriptions mean / do a pilot or practice survey (1); Decide when would be best day / part of day to do survey / do it same day (1); Agree on time of survey / all surveys done at same time (1); Decide whether to calculate an average score from several students' results / one student decides on the group's scores (1); Decide whether to repeat on different times / days (1)
3. 8(b)(i) Tettenhall and Pendeford: Examples: (1 MAX) More open land in T / less open land in P (1); More attractive land in T / less attractive land in P (1); Less vandalism and damage in T / more or worse vandalism in P (1); More attractive overall in T than P (1); Whitmore Reans and Low Hill: Examples: (1 MAX) Less maintained / poorer / worse building condition in W / more maintained or better building condition in L (1); Less open land in W / more open land in L (1); Less attractive land in W / more attractive land in L (1); More / worse vandalism in W / less vandalism in L (1); More / worse noise OR air pollution / noisier in W / less noise OR air pollution in L (1); Less maintained / poorer / worse roads and pavements in W / more maintained or better roads and pavements in L (1); Less attractive overall in W than L (1)
4. 8(b)(ii) Completion of bi-polar graph; need both plots and joined accurately for the mark; Noise and air pollution (-1) and roads and pavements (+1)
5. 8(b)(iii) Plotting bar for Whitmore Reans (-5) on Fig. 11
6. 8(b)(iv) Hypothesis is PARTLY TRUE – 1 mark reserve for correct decision (1); Evidence; Minus / negative or low scores nearer to centre / positive or high away from centre (1); e.g. Any two sites that agree: Heath Town close with score of -2 and Pendeford further away with higher score of 10 (1); NOTE: 1 Reserve/max mark for anomaly statement or stats. Anomaly of Tettenhall – higher score nearer centre than areas further from centre (1); e.g. Tettenhall close with 12 and Fordhouses further away with lower score of 7 (1); (Could also use Low Hill 3 or Pendeford 10)
7. 8(c) Description: Use random number generator to decide who they ask / ask next person they meet / put numbers in a bag and draw out to decide who they ask (1 MAX); Advantage: random numbers avoids bias / equal chance of being selected / reliable / quicker (1 MAX)
8. 8(d)(i) Completion of Fig. 12; Park: between 5 and 15 (7 minutes); Secondary school: more than 30 (40 minutes)
9. 8(d)(ii) People may not walk / may go by car / bus / mobility scooter / other transport (1); People may not go to the nearest service / more than one service to go to (1); People walk at different speeds / people walk faster on one day than another (1); People walk by different routes (1); Estimated times may be inaccurate / vague / people do not know / guess (1); Takes them longer when it is busy (1); Do not use specific services (1)
10. 8(d)(iii) Local store = 4 (1); Total = 24 (1); Award total mark if local store is wrong but total correct to avoid ECF; (Likely to be combinations of NR / 20; 0 / 20; 1 / 21; 2 / 22; 3 / 23 – give X = 0 for first incorrect figure but TICK = 1 if total is right using the incorrect figure)
11. 8(e)(i) Completion of pie graph for Fordhouses (45%) or 162° clockwise – allow tolerance of 1% each way, i.e. 158–166°; Plot and shading must be correct for the mark
12. 8(e)(ii) Hypothesis is FALSE – 1 mark reserve for correct decision (1); Evidence: Highest scores increase towards city centre OR access near centre is better nearer to centre (1), e.g. Heath Town near with 91 and Pendeford further / faraway with 51 (1) (Any two examples that work)
13. 8(f) Decide on groups / pairs or individual research (1); Divide jobs between students / 1 counts other records (1); Decide on appropriate sites / roads (1); Decide when to do the traffic counts / time (1); Decide which days to do it (1); Decide duration of traffic counts (1); Go to two sites on each road / opposite sides of road / specific sites (1); Use stopwatch / watch for timing (1); Count traffic / vehicles / types of vehicles / all transport types (1); Use counter / clicker / tally method (1); Synchronise timing / start and finish at same time (1); Record on sheet / table / chart (1)