How our methods of data collection could have been improved:
We could have chosen to do the questionnaire at various times during the day so we would gain a fair representation of the different groups of people visiting Carlisle during the whole day, and therefore making our results much more reliable. Also we could have covered a much larger area and retained a lot more results and variety of results.
Methods to represent data:
We used a table to record the questionnaire results with the no. Of person down the side with the 3 questions as the columns with the answers jotted down. It was a good way to record the results as it is easy to read from and make assumptions.
In conclusion I believe the questionnaire we used to obtain our results was a good way of collecting the information as it made it easy to read from and to notice patterns in the results. Although there are some ways in which the investigation could have been improved such as spending more time interviewing people or covering a much larger area, or just asking them more questions such as what method of transport they used to travel to Carlisle on that day.
2nd Human Study:
Aim:
To see if pedestrian numbers peak at lunchtime.
Annotated Sketch Map of the study area:
How our data was collected:
We positioned ourselves at the desired point just outside the main shopping area of the centre of Carlisle. It was a reasonably busy area of the town. We recorded each person who passed around us as designated by the survey area in the sketch map above.
How our methods of data collection could have been improved:
We could have taken more surveys around different places around the city centre to obtain more reliable results. We could have noted down what age groups the passer bys were. Also we could have taken the survey over more time periods to obtain more reliable results. E.g. 9:00, 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00.
Methods to represent data:
We noted down the results in a table so it is easy to read from and comment by understanding it correctly. We used a tally system also so that recording the numbers was simpler as it took less time as we could count up the final result at the end of each survey.
In conclusion I believe the method we used to collect the data was the most efficient way of doing so as it was quick and it meant that we wouldn’t let anyone pass by unnoticed. To improve this study we could have recorded how many children and elderly passed by marking them with a different colour or symbol to see which kind of people walked these areas at that time of the day.
