Geographical Skills

• primary data

  collected first hand by the researcher for the purpose of answering the question
• secondary data


  collected by someone other than the researcher for another purpose and published for others to use
• quantitative data


  collected by measuring and involves numbers
• qualitative data


  is not numerical and involves words, photographs and drawings
• random sampling


  each member of the population has an exactly equal chance of being chosen. used when the study site is the same throughout, with no environmental variations.
• stratified sampling


  when there are obvious subsets which are present in the data and need to be represented separately.
• systematic sampling


  choosing samples at regular intervals, to track any changes
• opportunistic sampling


  collecting data when you can, when a random set of participants cannot be obtained.
• methods of indicating height


  • spot height - black dot with height besides it
  • triangulation pillars - marks hill tops with a blue triangle
  • contour lines - brown lines joining places of the same height
• pragmatic sampling


  when the samples are chosen based on practical reasons, taking into account where you are allowed to go, what is dangerous etc.