1. 6GEO2 Unit 2 Geographical Investigations –
Student Guide: Crowded Coasts - Part 2

2. CONTENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
In Part 1
Overview
Requirements of the specification
What are crowded coasts?
Investigating crowded coasts
Ideas for fieldwork
Research on crowded coasts
Making it work for the exam
Click on the information icon
Click on the home button
to jump to that section.
to return to this contents page

3. What could you do for fieldwork?
• Partly will depend on choice of examples and fieldwork locations….

4. Investigating crowded
coasts….more detail
Thinking about fieldwork and research
‘In the field’ can
mean a variety
of things. ‘Topup’ from other
sources if
necessary to give
coverage
Key fieldwork + research
focuses – the ‘Strands’
Competition for coasts
• Land use surveys,
questionnaires, oral histories,
services mapping, beach quality.
Coping with pressure
• Range of quality surveys, e.g.
landscape quality , pollution,
ecosystems condition.
Increasing risks
• Cliff + beach surveys,
perception, questionnaires, old
maps.
When preparing notes for revision don’t just list
what you did. Add depth with places and examples
of EQUIPMENT, NUMBER of surveys, details of LAND
USE MAPS, even talk about SAMPLING.
The best answers often to refer to real fieldwork
and real places
Coastal management
• Assessing coastal defence
schemes, e.g. photos, bi-polar
surveys.

5. Some general and generic fieldwork + research activities
Try to create a ‘sense of
place’ – use various
ways to create ‘picture
portrait’.
These will always
be useful for the
exam, no matter
what fieldwork
and research
option is chosen

6. Example – Competition for coasts: fieldwork
(Strand 1 within the specification)
Classifying + mapping
tourist facilities
Shows importance of
tourism in resort
Age of buildings
Spatial pattern of resorts
growth
Car parking patterns +
visitor sphere of
influence
See where visitors
originate from; build up a
picture of tourism
This is 1 of the 4 possible fieldwork strands. The exam might ask about this or any
of the other three strands. The exam will only ever be able to assess about 25% of
the fieldwork you might have done. Above are suggestions for possible fieldwork –
there is no need to do them all. Remember that you can ‘top-up’ by virtual
fieldwork, although its best to do this at the same location.

7. One day at the coast. What realistically could be done?
ONE LOCATION ONLY
1 – Land use map +
tourist facilities (~
6 groups + zoned)
You would have
to ‘work smart’
to cover all this
in one day
‘At
beach–
pm’
‘In town –
am’
3 – Coastal retreat –
photo evidence,
cliff surveys +
questionnaires
(perceived risk)
2 – Ecosystem
evaluation (2x
contrasting locations –
groups)
In the exam you need to
think about what type
fieldwork and research is
relevant to the focus of the
of the question.
4 – Evaluating
coastal defences (~
2 groups /
comparison of
locations)

8. Two days at the coast. A more relaxed experience!
1 – Land use
map + tourist
facilities,
questionnaire
(sphere of
influence etc),
age of
buildings. Maps
of change.
Day 1 –
crowded
resort
location
Two days allows a greater
range of techniques and
probably a visit to two
contrasting locations along
the same stretch of coast
2 – Ecosystem evaluation,
e.g. transect + ACFOR
scale, modified Blue Flag
criteria for beach quality
4 – Evaluating coastal
defences – bi-polar,
photos, questionnaires
of effectiveness
(COULD REPEAT +
COMPARE AT DAY 2)
3 – Coastal retreat –
photo evidence, field
sketch, cliff surveys,
beach profiles
Day 2 – more
rural coast

9. Opportunities for research
Old photos and other documentary evidence (e.g. coastal flood
reports, photos, specialist books etc) can help reveal the scale
and impact of floods. You may also find evidence of ways in
which coastal erosion is trying to be managed (e.g. SMPs etc).

10. Witness accounts and blogs
•
•
•
The impacts of coastal erosion, flooding and conflict are
often best documented through online reports and blogs
(see example below). YouTube and similar sites may
also be a rich source of documented evidence.
Websites such as Wordle can be used to analyse the text
in documents and reports – the most frequently used
words are displayed using the largest font.
Within your school or college it may be useful to look
back at data that was collected by students a few years
ago. This is most likely available in an electronic form.

11. Following-up the coastal fieldwork?
A range of
fieldwork
follow-up
options may
be
appropriate
in order to
better
prepare for
the exam.
The most
important
activities are
in the light
green
boxes.
These link to
possible
questions
exploring
the ‘route to
enquiry’.
ACTIVITY 1 – METHODOLOGY WRITE-UP. Give a focus on the techniques and
approaches used, how the sites were selected, justification etc. Remember to
include both fieldwork and research ideas.
ACTIVITY 2 – PRESENTATION and ANALYSIS. Give a focus on the range of
techniques used to present the data and say why you used them. Also include a
description of how and why data was analysed (including qualitative, e.g.
Annotation of photographs etc).
ACTIVITY 3 – RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS and EVALUATION. Give a focus on what
you found, including some locational detail. You should also give details of
selected results, and provide an evaluative framework, e.g. limitations,
reliability of results etc.
Peer review of other modeled exam responses. Use highlighting, annotation etc
to learn from other peoples work. This could be linked to a mark scheme,
A fieldwork glossary...very useful to help with technical language in the exam.
This could be linked to a techniques matrix (see next slide).
A GIS / Google Earth map showing the locations visited as place marks.
Mock exam questions completed under timed conditions , linked to each of the
three activities above.
A PowerPoint presentation , to focus on giving a ‘virtual tour’ of the locations /
and or findings.

12. A revision glossary could be important for coasts
Revision glossaries could
include lists of words and
linked definitions, diagrams
and mind maps or event
throughout auditing of your
fieldwork. Combine this with
practise of writing under
timed conditions, i.e. 10 or 15
minutes

13. Summary
• Revise your personal fieldwork and research
on coasts thoroughly.
• When relevant, know details on sampling,
surveys, presentation, analysis and
conclusions.
• Know the location(s) and why it was chosen
for a coastal study.
• What were the site details and what about the
use of any use any specialist equipment?
• Be clear about the different ways to manage
coasts and if they worked (locational details).
• The exam will only ever be able to test 25% of
the fieldwork you may have done....so its not
a case of write all you know or all you did on
the fieldwork day. BE SELECTIVE.

14. Now see part 1 for the Introduction to Crowded
Coasts