Comparing Two Shopping areas
Comparing Two Shopping areas
Aims and Hypotheses:
AIMS
. To find out which shopping centre has the greatest variety and number of shops and services
2. To determine the quality of the shopping centres
3. To discover how large the catchment areas are of both shopping centres
4. To find out the proportion of convenience good shops to comparison good shops in the shopping centres
5. To determine as to whether pedestrian flow varies within each shopping centre
HYPOTHESES
. Norwich City has both a greater variety of shops and services and a larger number of shops and services than in Sheringham
2. Sheringham has less comparison good shops than Norwich.
3. The quality of both shopping ares could be improved by the provision of further amenities
4. Norwich has a much larger cachtment area than Sheringham
5. Pedestrian flow varies considerably along the main shopping street in each centre
Organisation of Fieldwork
This is how my coursework is going to be organised :-
Method
Hypothesis 1 - results and analysis
Hypothesis 2 - results and analysis
Hypothesis 3 - results and analysis
Hypothesis 4 - results and analysis
Hypothesis 5 - results and analysis
Conclusion
Method
In order to investigate my aims and hypothesis, the following was carried out :-
We collected data from ~Norwich and Sheringham. Exactly the same methods of data collection was carried out at each area
I collected data for the hypothesis relating to 'types and variety of shops' by visiting Norwich and Sheringham and walking along their respective shopping areas, which is shown highlighted in yellow on the map of Sheringham. I drew a small box to scale to represent each shop or service on my map. I placed a number or letter in each box to represent the type of shop or service it was.I decided to start the Norwich survey at the bottom of St Stephens Street where the Castle mail entrances are and finish at the top of St Stephens Street where Iceland is because the majority of shops are in this area. Similarly, the area studied in Sheringham focused on the main shopping area.
For the 'pedestrian flow' hypothesis each person was given a specific place to stand. To see who stood where, This information is shown in a map of the town, we made a tally of people passing them from each direction for a period of ten minutes. For the 'where people came from' hypothesis and 'shopping centre improvement' hypothesis, we did a survey by randomly asking people, this is known as random sampling when you are not able to ask everyone, but ask a few people and hope they are representative of everyone. However, the time of day this ...
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For the 'pedestrian flow' hypothesis each person was given a specific place to stand. To see who stood where, This information is shown in a map of the town, we made a tally of people passing them from each direction for a period of ten minutes. For the 'where people came from' hypothesis and 'shopping centre improvement' hypothesis, we did a survey by randomly asking people, this is known as random sampling when you are not able to ask everyone, but ask a few people and hope they are representative of everyone. However, the time of day this survey was carried out meant that it was mainly old people who were asked and this could cause the results to become biased. Our class sample size was about 140. See my blank questionnaire as an example of what the questions I used.
If I were to attempt this investigation again, I could improve on the accuracy of my map by drawing it more carefully. I could also have obtained more accurate results from my questionnaire if the class sample size was greater.
All questionnaires, tally charts etc will be found in the back of the project.
Hypothesis 1
My hypothesis was that Norwich has both a greater variety of shops and a larger number of shops and services than Sheringham.
My results seem to prove that my hypothesis is correct, because there are a greater amount of shops along the St Stephens then there are in Sheringham Norwich has more comparison shops than convenience, and the Sheringham has a lot more convenience shops than anything else. I think that my results prove that Stephens Street Norwich has a greater number and variety of shops and services than Sheringham because Sheringham is a smaller town than Norwich, so there is more local people that go shopping in Sheringham because it is convenient for them to go shopping there than it is to go shopping in Norwich. Also, people come from nearby towns and villages to shop at Norwich, while the majority of shoppers in Sheringham live in Sheringham.
My original hypothesis has been proved correct, which is that Norwich has both a greater variety of shops and services and a larger number of shops and services than Sheringham. However, I don't think that my investigations proved without doubt that my hypothesis has been true. This is because that I didn't carry out my survey across the whole of Sheringham or St Stephens Street Norwich.
Hypothesis 2
My hypothesis was that Sheringham has less comparison good shops than St Stephens Street Norwich. A convenience goods shop is a shop that sells everyday goods that you wouldn't expect people to compare prices between shops, for example a bakery. A comparison goods shop is a shop that sells expensive products that you would probably compare with other similar type shops, for example an electronic appliances store.
My results seem to back up that hypothesis, because, Sheringham has 28 comparison shops compared to St Stephens Street Norwich 55 comparison shops. I think that my results prove that St Stephens Street Norwich has more comparison shops because Sheringham is mainly for Sheringham residents to do their day-to-day shopping, while St Stephens Street Norwich is more likely to have people coming from other towns or villages especially to buy more expensive products, for example a television.
My original hypothesis, which was that Sheringham has less comparison goods shops than St Stephens Street Norwich was correct. However, I don't think that my investigation has proved without doubt that my hypothesis is true. This is because I believe that my fieldwork is limited as we only surveyed the main shopping areas of the respective towns, and not any shops in other parts of either Sheringham or St Stephens Street Norwich.
Hypothesis 3
My hypothesis was that the quality of both shopping areas could be improved by the provision of further amenities.
I performed my questionnaire in Stephens Street and Sheringham, the questionnaire told me where and why people came to these places rather to any where else. This will also inform me how much money people spend in these places depending on where they have come from. You can see a copy of my questionnaire and results at the back of the project.
Hypothesis 4
My hypothesis was that Stephens Street has a much larger catchment area than Sheringham.
This hypothesis is proven by the map which show the catchment area of where people like to shop the most, which proves that Stephens Street Norwich has more people coming from other towns than Sheringham.
Stephens Street's sphere of influence is far greater on the map than Sheringham sphere of influence is.
I think that this is the case because St Stephens Street has a greater variety and number of shops than Sheringham, so more people would prefer to go to St Stephens Street than Sheringham to do their shopping, especially if they want to buy an expensive good like a microwave or television. This is because their choice would be restricted if they went to Sheringham, because there would then be less shops to visit.
My original hypothesis was proved correct, although I once again think that a greater number of people surveyed would of made my results far more accurate. This is because I don't believe that enough people were asked in proportion to the respective populations of Sheringham and St Stephens Street
Conclusion
I think that my coursework has proved that St Stephens Street has a greater variety and number of shops, and also a better quality shopping centre than Sheringham. This is why I believe that St Stephens Street has a larger catchment area than Sheringham. Another thing I have found is that Sherinham has less comparison goods shops in proportion to convenience goods shops compared to St Stephens Street. This, in my opinion, is another reason why more people shop at St Stephens Street than Sheringham.
I think that my project has been done fairly well, although I would of change some things if I could. One thing I would of changed is the amount of people interviewed for the questionnaires, because only about 140 people were interviewed in each town, and that is a tiny amount compared with the populations of both Sheringham and St Stephens Street, so I cannot be sure that our findings were representative of everybody's views. I would also of preferred to have been given more time to do data collection, as I did have to work very efficiently to get everything done in time.
