Bid-Rent Theory – The theory that refers to how the price and demand on land changes as the distance towards the CBD increases due to better routes into the CBD (e.g. bus, train and car links), tourist focus (e.g. museums, the universities). These result in the demand for land being high and people are attracted to the prestige of the central focus.
High Order Good – Goods which are not bought on a daily basis, for example a refrigerator, or a television, which could be bought in places like Bang and Olufsen.
Low Order Good – Goods which are bought on a daily basis, for example milk, a newspaper or bread. Most of these could be bought in places like Martin's Newsagents.
High Order Centre – In high order centres, such as Cornmarket Street, there are more high order goods on offer, with a larger sphere of influence.
Low Order Centre – In low order centres, such as Banbury Road in Summertown, there are more low order goods on offer, with a smaller sphere of influence.
Maps
National
Regional – Oxford
Section Two: Methods of Data Collection
Contents:
- Maps – Showing where I conducted each of these.
- Different methods of data collection – Tax Disc Survey, Pedestrian Count, E.Q.I., Bus Count, Questionnaire, Books and Internet.
Oxford Flow Diagram
Tax Disc Survey
To find out about the sphere of influence in both Summertown and Oxford, I conducted a tax disc survey. Tax discs are located in every car that has permission to be on the road, and are displayed in the windshield. They are proof that the car has been registered to be used or kept on the road, and they show where the car is from, because it is stamped from the dealership/post office, which tends to be the one closest to the car-owner. We used this to see how far the car has travelled to get there, which can help us define the sphere of influence. In conducting this survey, my method of sampling was simply systematic: I checked every car’s tax disc. I counted 15 cars in both Oxford and Summertown. The only problem would be that some cars are taxed with the D.V.L.A., meaning we cannot use them as they all come from the same place and don’t show how far someone has travelled. These tax discs were skipped.
The above table is the table we used to write down the results of our tax disc survey. As you can see, we looked at 20 different cars in each location (i.e. Summertown and Oxford) and wrote down the location of the post office where the tax disc was stamped.
Pedestrian Count
A pedestrian count is where you count the amount of people who walk down a road in a given amount of time. These are used to show where the pedestrian flows are higher (i.e. Oxford or Summertown). They help show the amount of people who travel to a place. I conducted mine by standing with my back to my friend in the middle of the street. Having a friend there allowed us to count how every single person, walking in both directions on both sides of the street. I counted the number of people who walked down the place I had chosen in one minute. I conducted this five times, in different parts of the street to get an accurate view of how many people walk down the whole of the street. In conducting this pedestrian count, my method of sampling was counting every single person, so I would get as accurate as possible the idea of how many people were there. This is called systematic.
A copy of the table in which I recorded the amount of people is shown below.
E.Q.I
An E.Q.I. (Environmental Quality Index) allows the person being asked to voice an opinion on the settlement. It asks how said person feels about the pollution of the area, the attractiveness of the area and buildings, the facilities available, and the value of goods. It can be helpful as it can tell us how people feel towards each settlement, showing me where people would rather go.
Environmental quality index
Worst Best
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Very dirty . . . . . . . very clean
Heavy traffic . . . . . . . no traffic
Much derelict land . . . . . . . no derelict land
Many high-rise . . . . . . . few high rise
Buildings buildings
Amenities index
No open or green . . . . . . . much open or
Space green space
No shops . . . . . . . wide range of shops
No recreational . . . . . . . many facilities
Facilities
No schools . . . . . . . primary and secondary schools
No social services . . . . . . . satisfactory provision
Shopping survey
Ugly buildings . . . . . . . attractive
buildings
Difficult to park . . . . . . . easy to park
Expensive to park . . . . . . . free parking
Lots of litter . . . . . . . no litter
Graffiti . . . . . . . no graffiti
High crime rate . . . . . . . low crime rate
Unsafe for . . . . . . . safe for
Pedestrians pedestrians
Quality of shopping
Poor value goods . . . . . . . good value
Poor choice of goods . . . . . . . excellent choice
Low order goods . . . . . . . high order goods
All these questions are closed questions because the person being questioned is given a list of answers and has to choose one from the list (i.e. 1-7)
Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a very helpful method of data collection. We can see exactly how people feel about either location, and can split that up in to male and female categories, and age categories. A questionnaire also allows us to find out exactly how far people travelled to reach the location, helping determine what the sphere of influence for that settlement is. We conducted out questionnaire using the random method of sampling, where we asked 15 people on the street in each settlement at random. Here is a copy of the questionnaire I used.
Excuse me, I am conducting a questionnaire for my Geography GCSE coursework on the comparison of Oxford and Summertown and was wondering if I could ask you some questions?
- Where did you travel in from today?
Place:
Distance in miles:
This question is an open question because the person being questioned is given no options; they have the opportunity to say wherever they came from. As previously mentioned, this question helps us determine what the sphere of influence for this settlement is, because we work out on average how far people travel to reach it.
- How often do you visit central Oxford?
Every Day
Twice a week
Weekly
Every Fortnight
Once a month
Less than once a month
This is a closed question because the person being questioned is given a list of answers and has to choose one from the list. It is also a closed question because it is asking for fact. This question helps us get an idea of how much each settlement is used.
- What is the main purpose of your visit?
Work
Shopping
Tourism
Visit friends/relatives
Other
This is a closed question because the person being questioned is given a list of answers and has to choose one from the list. It is also a closed question because it is asking for fact. This question helps us get an idea of what the settlement is used for.
- How did you travel to Oxford today?
Car
Bus
Train
Bike
Walk
Other
This is a closed question because the person being questioned is given a list of answers and has to choose one from the list. It is also a closed question because it is asking for fact. This question gives us an idea of how each settlement’s services are used (i.e. train, bus, car parks, pedestrianised zones).
- What services in Oxford are you likely to use today?
Shops (specify)
Restaurants (Specify)
Entertainments
Work
Tourist Attractions
This is a closed question because the person being questioned is given a list of answers and has to choose one from the list. The question is useful because it gives us an idea of how each settlement’s services and shops are used, and which settlement is used most for which service in the options (shops, restaurants, entertainments, work, and tourist attractions).
- How would you rate Central Oxford/Summertown in terms of…?
0 (terrible) – 10 (excellent)
...Suitability of car park
...Variety of shops
...Quality of shops
...Quality of restaurants
...Quality of entertainments
...Interest of attractions
This is a closed question because the person being questioned is given a list of answers and has to choose one from the list. However, it is not being asked for fact, simply opinion. This question is particularly useful for determining how people feel about the settlement’s facilities and services, and it helps me understand where people would rather go (i.e. Summertown or Oxford) for quality and variety.
- Age category
0-19
20-39
40-59
60+
This is a closed question because the person being questioned is given a list of answers and has to choose one from the list. It is also a closed question because it is asking for fact, not opinion. This question helps determine a stereotypical person for each settlement (for example, Oxford consists of mainly 20-39 year olds and Summertown consists of mainly 40-59 year olds).
- Sex
Male
Female
This is a closed question because the person being questioned is given a list of answers and has to choose one from the list. It is also a closed question because it is asking for fact, not opinion. It is useful because it also helps determine a stereotypical person for each settlement (for example, Oxford consists of mainly 20-39 year old males, and Summertown consists of mainly 40-59 year old females).
Section Three: Results
Contents:
- Hypothesis One
- Hypothesis Two
- Hypothesis Three
- Hypothesis Four
- Hypothesis Five
- Hypothesis Six
- Hypothesis Seven
Hypothesis 1 – The sphere of influence of central Oxford will be larger than in Summertown.
My first hypothesis stated that the sphere of influence of central Oxford will be larger than in Summertown. I thought this because I knew that Oxford has a much wider variety of shops, services, restaurants, entertainments and attractions than Summertown thus the sphere of influence should be larger than in Summertown. Oxford’s shops include Austin Reed, a number of banks, T-Mobile, and Boots, which are specialist shops. This means that they will have a larger sphere of influence than low order shops like Martin’s and Pen to Paper in Summertown. Summertown also has some medium order shops like Somerfield’s and the Co-Op, and so does Oxford (e.g. Sainsbury’s). Oxford also has more public services (e.g. hospital, train station etc.). Cornmarket in particular will have a very large sphere of influence with visitors ranging from local to overseas. Summertown, being a suburb, could not possibly have a larger sphere of influence than the central business district (CBD). Summertown is in the high class residential area on the Burgess Model and in the high class/medium class residential areas on the Hoyt’s Model. Central Oxford is very accessible, with people visiting from the North, South, East and West, whereas Summertown is local with people mainly coming in from the North. Oxford city centre is also easy to get to by buses, which arrive frequently and from a variety of different places (for example St. Giles, Grovelands, Summertown, Kidlington, Cowley Centre, Bicester, Abingdon, Blackbird Leys etc). Summertown’s buses are often only coming in and out of large areas like central Oxford, among others.
To find out if this hypothesis was correct, I conducted a questionnaire, shown in the Methods of Data Collection, to find out how far people had travelled. I also wanted to compare how often people came to each settlement, which would show me which settlement is more local and which one is visited less regularly but people are willing to travel further for (e.g. tourists who don’t visit very often but travel a greater distance). The final way I found out the sphere of influence is by conducting a tax disc survey to see where people travelled from.
The above table shows the results for both the distances travelled by fifteen people to reach the either Oxford or Summertown. I obtained these results by conducting a questionnaire.
The above graph shows the results for the average distances people are willing to travel to reach both Oxford and Summertown, including and excluding international travels.
As you can see, the average distance travelled to reach Oxford is much higher than to reach Summertown. This is because it included the distance travelled by one person from New York to Oxford and from Paris to Summertown. Although this may show that people are willing to travel internationally to reach Oxford/Summertown, it may have nothing to do with the place itself. The person could potentially be staying near the area and need to visit the local shops, bank, post office, etc. Because there was only one person from abroad visiting each of the location (only one out for fifteen people - 6.67%), it seems unnecessary to include them in the average. Therefore, the average distance, excluding travels from abroad, is 19.96 for Oxford and 13.14 for Summertown. This shows that the average distance travelled to reach Oxford is more than the average distance travelled to reach Summertown, proving that people are willing to travel further for Oxford than for Summertown, thus it has a larger sphere of influence. This may be because there is a direct connection between how many people travel into an area and what services it has to offer. Oxford has a much wider variety of services and goods on offer than Summertown, as I hope to prove with following results.
This graph shows how often people travel to Summertown only. As you can see, more people (7 people – 46.7%) travel daily to Summertown. These results show that Summertown is visited quite regularly, which suggests that Summertown is local.
This graph shows how often people travel to Oxford only. As seen here, there are four people (26.7%) who travel to Oxford daily and four (26.7%) who travel to Oxford monthly. The people who visit daily are most likely to be going to work; whereas the monthly people are probably going to Oxford for retail/tourism/other purposes. In contrast with Summertown, there is one person out of fifteen (6.7%) who travels to Oxford annually or three times a year, showing that it is a popular place to visit. There are also a large percentage of people who visit Oxford on a weekly basis (20%).
Oxford Goad Map
Summertown Goad Map
The land use maps shown in the past two pages show that Oxford has more high and middle order shops than Summertown (see key). This would result in a higher sphere of influence.
The above chart shows the results for my tax disc survey in Summertown only. It shows that the average distance people are willing to travel by car is 9.7 miles, including people who live in Summertown and nearby areas. The furthest distance was Birmingham. 50% of all the cars came from 5 miles or less away, and 75% came from 10 miles or less away.
The chart above shows the results for the tax disc survey conducted in Oxford. The average distance is 26.4 miles. The furthest distance is Falmouth, Cornwall, 262 miles away. 15% of people came from over 50 miles away and 45% of people came from over 10 miles away.
The above graph shows the results for the comparison between how far people are willing to travel by car to reach Oxford and how far people are willing to travel by car to reach Summertown. I obtained this information by conducting a tax disc survey. The graph shows Oxford in blue (with an average distance travelled at 26.4 miles – 73%) and Summertown in red (with an average distance travelled at 9.7 – 27%).
Overall Sphere of Influence:
Questionnaire Summertown including international: 26.46 miles
Questionnaire Oxford including international: 247.4 miles
Questionnaire Summertown excluding international: 13.14 miles
Questionnaire Oxford excluding international: 19.96
Tax Disc Summertown: 9.7 miles
Tax Disc Oxford: 26.4 miles
Total sphere of influence for Summertown
Including international: 18.02 miles
Excluding international: 11.42 miles
Total sphere of influence for Oxford
Including international: 135.9 miles
Excluding international: 23.18 miles
Oxford’s sphere of influence including international travel is 117.88 miles bigger than Summertown’s (which is 76.6% of the overall distance travelled to reach both Oxford and Summertown).
Oxford’s sphere of influence excluding international travel is 11.76 miles bigger than Summertown’s (which is 33.9% of the overall distance travelled to reach both Oxford and Summertown).
Overall sphere of influence:
For Oxford, including both international and national travels: 79.54 miles.
For Summertown, including both international and national travels: 14.72 miles.
Oxford’s sphere of influence is 64.82 miles bigger than Summertown’s (which is 68.8% of the overall distance travelled to reach both Oxford and Summertown). This last result, however, isn’t very reliable as it includes international travel, which could represent holidays to England and not especially Oxford/Summertown.
This hypothesis could be linked to Bid Rent Theory, because low order shops cannot afford to locate in the CBD, and the goad maps show that there are fewer low order shops in Oxford than in Summertown.
The above map shows the sphere of influence for both Oxford and Summertown, excluding all international travel. Oxford’s sphere of influence, which is 23.18 miles, is shown in purple, and Summertown’s sphere of influence, which is 11.42 miles, is shown in red. Oxford’s sphere of influence is 11.76 miles bigger than Summertown’s (which is 33.9% of the overall distance travelled to reach both Oxford and Summertown).
Hypothesis 2 – Buses to Central Oxford will come more frequently and from a wider range of places than buses to Summertown.
My second hypothesis stated that buses to Central Oxford will come more frequently and from a wider range of places than buses to Summertown. As mentioned before, central Oxford is the peak of commerce and entertainment in the areas surrounding Oxford and Summertown so would attract a lot more people than Summertown, despite Summertown being quite an affluent area. Buses would come to Oxford more frequently and from a larger variety of places than to Summertown because of this. Another reason is Oxford is more accessible that Summertown, with more roads leading into the centre. This means that buses can come from a much bigger variety of places and distances because they can come from the North, South, East and West. Summertown only has one route into the centre, which is down the Banbury road, so buses can come from two directions only, the North and the South. To find this out, I needed to conduct first of all a bus count survey. I also needed to see where all the buses were coming to and from. I checked the routes the buses made to see where each bus was coming to and from.
Part One: More Frequently
Part Two: Wider Range of Places
Part One: More Frequently
Summertown
- CO-OP
Average number of buses: 1.6 a minute
- OXFAM
Average number of buses: 1.6 a minute
The tables above show my results for the bus count for Summertown. They show that the number of buses going into Oxford outnumber the number of buses coming out of Oxford by 9:7. It also shows that in a period of five minutes, 9 buses went from Summertown into Oxford and 7 went into Summertown from Oxford. This represents that 1.8 buses went into Oxford a minute, and 1.4 buses came into Summertown from Oxford a minute.
This graph also shows the difference between the numbers of people going to and from Oxford in Summertown. The percentage of people going into Oxford from Summertown – shown in blue - is 56%, and the percentage of people coming from Oxford – shown in red - is 44%.
Oxford
- WATERSTONES
Average number of buses: 1.8
- CARFAX TOWER
Average number of buses: 4.6 a minute
The tables above show my results for the bus count for Oxford. They show that there are a large number of buses circulating central Oxford (32), whereas Summertown only had 16. Oxford has exactly double the amount Summertown had. This shows that 6.4 buses are circulating central Oxford a minute, and only 3.2 buses are circulating Summertown a minute.
The above graph shows the difference between the numbers of buses in Summertown and Oxford. Oxford’s buses are shown in blue, and they make up 67% of the total amount of buses travelling in both settlements. The red shows the percentage – 33% - of buses travelling in Summertown.
Part Two: Wider Range of Places
I created the following table to find out where the buses travel from to reach Summertown/Oxford. I stood at outside the Co-Op for five minutes.
Summertown
The table for the Summertown buses shows the different buses that I saw go past in five minutes. This occasion was a different one to when I counted how many buses came by to figure out the frequency, and this time it was only twelve. The number 2 bus came four times, twice heading towards Oxford and twice coming from Oxford. The 7A bus came twice, once on each side of the road. The number 14 bus came once. The number 2C bus came twice, once on both sides of the street. The 7C bus came twice, both heading from Oxford. The 28A bus came once, heading towards Oxford. Buses to Summertown came from twelve different places.
Oxford
The table for the Oxford buses shows the different buses that I saw go past in five minutes. This occasion was a different one to when I counted how many buses came by to figure out the frequency, and this time it was 19. The 4 4B bus came once, the 2 bus came four times, the 2C bus came three times, the 2A bus came five times, the 4A bus came twice, the 5 bus came twice, the 6 bus came once and the 35A bus came once. Buses to Oxford came from 22 places.
Oxford buses came from 22 different places, where as Summertown buses came from twelve places. This means that Oxford buses came from almost double the amount of places as Summertown.
This is because of the following reasons:
-
Oxford has a larger sphere of influence – and due to that a much wider variety of shops, services, restaurants, entertainments and attractions than Summertown. It is also more accessible, route wise.
-
This is due to the fact that Central Oxford is a high order centre, thus has more high order goods and therefore a greater range of goods (the maximum distance people are willing to travel).
- Oxford has more tourism (e.g. Ashmolean Museum, Randolf Hotel, University buildings, the Carfax Tower, the Bodleian Library, the Oxford camera, and the Sheldonian Theatre etc) and much more prestige due to it.
- Oxford has more entertainment (e.g. theatre, cinemas etc).
Hypothesis 3 - The height of buildings in Central Oxford will be greater than in Summertown.
My third hypothesis stated that the height of building in Central Oxford will be greater than in Summertown. I thought this because the land in the CBD is more often than not, much more expensive to build on than the land in the suburbs, so buyers tend to build vertically and not horizontally, to save cost of land and just end up paying for the building materials, not to build vertically into the air. Another reason the height of buildings will be greater in Central Oxford is because there are more shops so building upwards is more cost effective, and will be more profitable for the shop owner. There are less residential areas in the Central Business District, and less available space, so to save space and money, there is more vertical building. To prove my hypothesis I will count the number of floors in buildings in Summertown and Central Oxford, find the average and compare them.
To find out the height of buildings in Central Oxford and Summertown, I created a table. This shows 10 buildings in each location, and their heights.
Summertown
The table for Summertown height of buildings shows that the average height for buildings in Summertown is 3.7 floors.
Oxford
The table for Central Oxford height of buildings shows that the average height of buildings in Central Oxford is 4.4 floors. This is 0.7 floors more than Summertown’s height of buildings.
This shows the 0.7 more floors Oxford has than Summertown.
The reasons for this are mainly because:
- Oxford has less available space so vertical building is invested in, to save space and money.
- More shops in Central Oxford than Summertown, which is much more residential, so shop owner needs to save money in order to be more cost effective and receive a bigger profit, so they build upwards.
-
The land in the CBD is generally more expensive to build on than the land in the suburbs, so buyers tend to build vertically and not horizontally, to save cost of land and just end up paying for the building materials, not to build vertically into the air.
-
This links in with Bid Rent Theory as it shows that the land is more expensive in the CBD, so buildings are built higher.
Hypothesis 4 - The greater the distance travelled to a shopping area will result in the more money that person will spend.
My fourth hypothesis stated that the greater the distance someone travels to a shopping area, the more money that person will spend. I thought this because logically, when someone travels a greater distance to buy something specific, it is because they can’t buy it near them so it would tend to be a high order good, which would be more expensive. Buying simple things like milk, bread and newspapers (which. as you can see in the glossary section, are low order goods) would cost less and be available in more places. Someone travelling a further distance is looking for something specific, a high order good. The availability of these could be more limited, so it is clear that the greater distance travelled the more money spent.
Summertown
The graph above shows the relationship between the amount of money spent (in red) to the distance travelled (in blue) to Summertown only. Although the two lines don’t run identically, there is a clear connection between how much money is spent and how far a person travelled in miles.
Oxford
The tables showing the results for Summertown and Oxford show that Summertown has an average of 13.9 miles being travelled and £21.30 being spent – which is £1.53 spent per mile – and Oxford had an average of 17.1 miles being travelled and £39.30 being spent – which is £2.30 spent per mile.
The graph above shows the relationship between the amount of money spent (in red) to the distance travelled (in blue) to Oxford only. Although the two lines don’t run identically, there is a clear connection between how much money is spent, or is intended to spend, and how far a person travelled in miles. As the line for the distance travelled moves up and down, so does the amount of money spent. They cannot be exactly the same because they amount of money spent is in a smaller scale than the distance travelled (i.e. it is easier to spend one pound than to travel one mile).
Hypothesis 5 - The Boots on Cornmarket Street, Oxford, will have a larger sphere of influence than the Boots on Banbury Road, Summertown. (This is an original hypothesis).
My fifth hypothesis stated that the Boots on Cornmarket Street will have a larger sphere of influence than the Boots on Banbury Road. As I mentioned in my first hypothesis, Cornmarket has a much larger sphere of influence then, for example, Banbury Road. This would result in shops on Cornmarket having a larger sphere of influence the shops on Banbury Road. Apart from this the boots on Cornmarket Street is much larger size-wise than the Boots in Summertown, so it is larger customer-wise. People are attracted from further away to it because there are more services being offered, for example, pharmaceutical services, cosmetics, hygiene goods, basic care goods, and free blood pressure tests. The Boots on Banbury Road offers some cosmetics, some hygiene goods, and some pharmaceutical goods.
To compare the two spheres of influence for both Boots, I conducted a questionnaire to find out how far people had travelled to reach both. I wrote down the results in a table, shown below.
Summertown
Oxford
The table showing Summertown’s sphere of influence shows that it is 6.5 miles, where as the one showing Oxford’s shows that it is 12 miles.
The comparison of the two spheres of influence is summed up in the chart below.
This graph shows that the Boots in Oxford’s sphere of influence is much larger than Boots in Summertown’s (precisely 5.5 miles, which is 29.7% of the total distance travelled to either settlement).
The above map shows the sphere of influence for the Boots in Summertown (shown in red) – which is 6.5 miles – and the sphere of influence for the Boots in Oxford (shown in purple) – which is 12 miles.
Hypothesis 6- The Clinton Cards on Cornmarket Street, Oxford, will have a larger sphere of influence than the Clinton Cards in the Westgate Centre, Oxford, and the Clinton Cards on Banbury Road, Summertown. The Clinton Cards in the Westgate Centre will have a larger sphere of influence than the Clinton Cards in Summertown. (This is an original hypothesis).
As mentioned before, Cornmarket, being in the Central Business District, will have a much larger sphere of influence that Summertown, being in the suburbs. According to my sixth hypothesis, this means that the Clinton Cards in Central Oxford will attract more people than the one in Summertown. It is clear that the Clinton Cards in the Westgate Centre will have a sphere of influence because it is in the Central Business District. The Clinton Cards on Cornmarket will have a larger sphere of influence than in the Westgate Centre because it is much larger in size; it is close to bus routes and is close to the centre of the Central Business District.
To compare the two spheres of influence for all three Clinton Cards, I conducted a questionnaire to find out how far people had travelled to reach both. I wrote down the results in a table, shown with the results.
Clinton Cards in Westgate Centre, Oxford
This table shows ten people, chosen at random, coming in and out of Clinton Cards, in the Westgate Centre. The right column represents how far each person travelled and the left column represents the ten people I asked. At the bottom, the average distance travelled is shown, and this is 3.6 miles.
The above graph shows the furthest distance and the smallest distance travelled to the Clinton Cards in the Westgate Centre. The smallest distance was 0 miles, where as the furthest distance was 11 miles.
Clinton Cards in Summertown
This table shows ten people, chosen at random, coming in and out of Clinton Cards, in Summertown. The right column represents how far each person travelled and the left column represents the ten people I asked. At the bottom, the average distance travelled is shown, and this is 6.7 miles.
The above graph shows the furthest distance and the smallest distance travelled to the Clinton Cards in Summertown. The smallest distance was 0 miles, where as the furthest distance was 17 miles.
Clinton Cards on Cornmarket Street, Oxford
This table shows ten people, chosen at random, coming in and out of Clinton Cards, in the Westgate Centre, in Oxford. The right column represents how far each person travelled and the left column represents the ten people I asked. At the bottom, the average distance travelled is shown, and this is 6.7 miles.
The above graph shows the furthest distance and the smallest distance travelled to the Clinton Cards on Cornmarket, in Oxford. The smallest distance was 0 miles, where as the furthest distance was 56 miles.
These results show that the Clinton Cards in Summertown has a sphere of influence of 6.7 miles, the one in the Westgate Centre has a sphere of influence of 3.6 miles and the one on Cornmarket Street has a sphere of influence of 9.1 miles. Clinton Cards on Cornmarket has a sphere of influence which is 5.5 miles larger than the Clinton Cards in Summertown and 2.4 miles larger than the one in the Westgate Centre.
Hypothesis 7 - At the same time of day, the Costa in the Claredon Centre will have a lower customer to staff ratio than either the Costa in Waterstones or Summertown. (This is an original hypothesis).
My seventh hypothesis stated that the Costa in the Claredon Centre will have a lower customer to staff ratio than either the Costa in Waterstones or Summertown. This is because the Claredon Centre is right next to Cornmarket Street, in the Central Business District, which attracts the biggest amount of people in Oxford. This means that any shops in the Claredon Centre should expect to have more customers so should have a lower staff to customer ratio. If there is a lack of staff then it will be less profitable for this Costa. This Costa is also much larger than either of the others. The Costa in Waterstones shouldn’t expect too many customers, despite being located next to Cornmarket, because it is not very large and is located in a shop. This means that it will have fewer staff to the other Costa in Oxford. The Costa in Summertown is very popular because it is unique to the other shops in Summertown, whilst there are many different cafes in Oxford. It should attract less people than the Costa in the Claredon Centre because they are of similar sizes but in very different commercial areas, so the one in the Claredon Centre will have more staff. The Costa in Summertown and the one in Waterstones should have a very similar customer amount because the one in Summertown is much larger in size but the one in Waterstones is in a better location. This means they should have a similar staff count.
The table shows the amount of staff working in and the amount of customers in each Costa. The Costa in the Claredon Centre has nine staff, and 38 customers, which is 4.22 customers for every one staff. The Costa in Waterstones has two staff and fifteen customers, which is 7.5 customers for every one staff. The Costa in Summertown has five staff, and 36 customers, which is 7.2 customers for every one staff. These results show that although the Costa in the Claredon Centre has the most customers, it also has enough staff to be able to deal with a large amount of customers. The Costa in Waterstones doesn’t have very many staff (2) but also has a less amount of customers (15). The Costa is Summertown has almost half the amount of staff working at the same time as the one in the Claredon Centre, but has only two customers less. This shows that this Costa is likely to be understaffed.
The Costa in the Claredon Centre, as predicted, had the lowest customer to staff ratio (4.22:1). The next lowest was the Costa in Summertown (7.2:1). The highest customer to staff ratio was the Costa in Waterstones (7.5:1)
This shows the proportion of staff working in each Costa. The blue section is Summertown and has 31% of the overall number of staff. The red section is the Claredon Centre and has 56% of the overall number of staff. The green section is Waterstones and has 13% of the overall number of staff.
This shows the number of customers in each Costa. The blue section is Summertown and has 40% of the overall number of customers. The red section is the Claredon Centre and has 43% of the overall number of customers. The green section is Waterstones and has 17% of the overall number of customers.
Section Four: Conclusion
Contents:
- Hypothesis One – page 84
- Hypothesis Two – page 85
- Hypothesis Three – page 86
- Hypothesis Four – page 86-87
- Hypothesis Five – page 87-88
- Hypothesis Six – page 88 – 89
- Hypothesis Seven – page 90-91
Hypothesis One: The sphere of influence of central Oxford will be larger than in Summertown.
The results I took proved that Oxford’s sphere of influence is larger than Summertown’s. To find my results I conducted questionnaires and tax disc surveys. I showed my results in tables, bar graphs, pyramid 2d bar graphs, ray diagrams and a sphere of influence map. My results showed that Oxford’s sphere of influence is 23.18 miles and Summertown’s sphere of influence is 11.42 miles. Oxford’s sphere of influence excluding international travel is 11.76 miles bigger than Summertown’s (which is 33.9% of the overall distance travelled to reach both Oxford and Summertown).
These results clearly show that this is correct, so this hypothesis is accepted.
The sphere of influence of central Oxford is larger than Summertown’s for a number of key reasons:
- Oxford has a much wider variety of shops, services, restaurants, entertainments and attractions than Summertown.
- Oxford also has more public services (e.g. hospital, train station etc.).
- Central Oxford is more accessible, with people visiting from the North, South, East and West, whereas Summertown is local with people mainly coming in from the North.
- Oxford city centre is also easier to get to by buses than Summertown.
- Oxford also has more tourism (e.g. Ashmolean Museum, Randolf Hotel, University buildings, the Carfax Tower, the Bodleian Library, the Oxford camera, and the Sheldonian Theatre etc).
- Oxford also has more entertainment (e.g. theatre, cinemas etc).
- Oxford has more prestige than Summertown, so it is more visited.
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Oxford is in the CBD, so the area’s sphere of influence is larger.
Hypothesis Two: Buses to Central Oxford will come more frequently and from a wider range of places than buses to Summertown.
The results I took showed that buses do come more frequently to Oxford than Summertown. We can see that there are a large number of buses circulating central Oxford (32), whereas Summertown only had 16. Oxford has exactly double the amount Summertown had. My results also showed me that 6.4 buses are circulating central Oxford a minute, and only 3.2 buses are circulating Summertown a minute. The second section of this hypothesis is the range of places buses come from. The results I took also showed me that buses do come from a wider range of places in Oxford than Summertown. I know that Oxford buses came from 22 places, where as Summertown buses came from twelve places. This means that Oxford buses came from almost double the amount of places as Summertown.
The results show that both sections of my hypothesis are correct, meaning this hypothesis is correct, so it is accepted.
The reasons more buses will come to Central Oxford and from a wider range of places that Summertown buses are:
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Oxford has a larger sphere of influence because of being in the CBD – due to that a much wider variety of shops, services, restaurants, entertainments and attractions than Summertown.
- Central Oxford is more accessible, route wise.
- Oxford has more tourism (e.g. Ashmolean Museum, Randolf Hotel, University buildings, the Carfax Tower, the Bodleian Library, the Oxford camera, and the Sheldonian Theatre etc).
- Oxford has more entertainment (e.g. theatre, cinemas etc).
- Oxford has more prestige than Summertown, so it is more visited.
Hypothesis Three: The height of buildings in Central Oxford will be greater than in Summertown.
The results I took showed that the height of buildings is in fact greater than in Summertown. My results showed that Summertown’s average number of floors was 3.7, whilst Oxford’s was 4.4 floors, making the average height of buildings 0.7 floors higher in Oxford than in Summertown. This proves the hypothesis is correct, however I expected a much larger average difference in height between Oxford buildings and Summertown buildings.
The results show that this is correct, so this hypothesis is accepted.
The reasons the height of buildings would be higher in Central Oxford than Summertown are:
- Oxford has less available space so vertical building is invested in, to save space and money.
- More shops in Central Oxford than Summertown, which is much more residential, so shop owner needs to save money in order to be more cost effective and receive a bigger profit, so they build upwards.
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The land in the CBD is generally more expensive to build on than the land in the suburbs, so buyers tend to build vertically and not horizontally, to save cost of land and just end up paying for the building materials, not to build vertically into the air.
Hypothesis Four: The greater the distance travelled to a shopping area will result in the more money that person will spend.
The results show that Summertown has an average of 13.9 miles being travelled and £21.30 being spent – which is £1.53 spent per mile – and Oxford had an average of 17.1 miles being travelled and £39.30 being spent – which is £2.30 spent per mile.
The results show that this is hypothesis is correct, and the greater the distance travelled does result in more money being spent, so this hypothesis is accepted.
The reasons more money is spent and more distance is travelled are:
- Oxford has a much wider variety of shops, services, restaurants, entertainments and attractions than Summertown.
- Oxford has more high order shops, so goods are more expensive.
- Oxford has a prestige that goes with it, making more people visit.
- Oxford has more tourism (e.g. Ashmolean Museum, Randolf Hotel, University buildings, the Carfax Tower, the Bodleian Library, the Oxford camera, and the Sheldonian Theatre etc) so it is more visited.
- Oxford has more entertainment (e.g. theatre, cinemas etc) so it is more visited.
Hypothesis Five: The Boots on Cornmarket Street, Oxford, will have a larger sphere of influence than the Boots on Banbury Road, Summertown. (This is an original hypothesis)
The results show that the Boots in Oxford’s sphere of influence is much larger than Boots in Summertown’s (precisely 5.5 miles, which is 29.7% of the total distance travelled to either Boots in each settlement). The Boots in Summertown’s sphere of influence is 6.5 miles; whereas the Boots in Oxford’s sphere of influence is 12 miles.
The results show that this hypothesis is correct, so this hypothesis is accepted.
The reasons that the Boots in Oxford has a larger sphere of influence than the Boots in Oxford are:
- Oxford has a much wider variety of shops, services, restaurants, entertainments and attractions than Summertown.
- Oxford has a prestige that goes with it, making more people visit.
- Oxford has more tourism (e.g. Ashmolean Museum, Randolf Hotel, University buildings, the Carfax Tower, the Bodleian Library, the Oxford camera, and the Sheldonian Theatre etc) so it is more visited.
- Oxford has more entertainment (e.g. theatre, cinemas etc) so it is more visited.
- The Boots in Oxford not only includes the basics (pharmacy, cosmetics, body care) but also has more variety in each department. The Boots in Oxford has a pharmacy that delivers and gives out free blood pressure tests. The cosmetics and make-up side of it has a vast range of products from a much larger amount of companies than the Boots in Summertown. There is also a large perfumery section which Summertown’s Boots doesn’t.
Hypothesis Six: The Clinton Cards on Cornmarket Street, Oxford, will have a larger sphere of influence than the Clinton Cards in the Westgate Centre, Oxford, and the Clinton Cards on Banbury Road, Summertown. The Clinton Cards in the Westgate Centre will have a larger sphere of influence than the Clinton Cards in Summertown. The results show that Clinton Cards on Cornmarket Street had the largest sphere of influence, as predicted, but the Clinton Card on Banbury Road was larger than the one in the Westgate Centre. (This is an original hypothesis)
The results I took show that the Clinton Cards in Summertown has a sphere of influence of 6.7, the one in the Westgate Centre has a sphere of influence of 3.6 miles and the one on Cornmarket Street has a sphere of influence of 9.1 miles. Clinton Cards on Cornmarket has a sphere of influence which is 5.5 miles larger than the Clinton Cards in Summertown and 2.4 miles larger than the one in the Westgate Centre. This shows that the Clinton Cards in Cornmarket has the largest sphere of influence, and the one in the Westgate Centre has the smallest sphere of influence.
This hypothesis is partially correct and partially incorrect so it is neither accepted nor rejected.
The reasons the Clinton Cards on Cornmarket Street, in Oxford has larger sphere of influence are:
- Oxford has a much wider variety of shops, services, restaurants, entertainments and attractions than Summertown.
- Oxford has a prestige that goes with it, making more people visit.
- Oxford has more tourism (e.g. Ashmolean Museum, Randolf Hotel, University buildings, the Carfax Tower, the Bodleian Library, the Oxford camera, and the Sheldonian Theatre etc) so it is more visited.
- Oxford has more entertainment (e.g. theatre, cinemas etc) so it is more visited.
- Oxford has a larger population than Summertown, so more people in the area to visit this Clinton Cards.
The main reason the Clinton Cards in Summertown has a larger sphere of influence than the one in the Westgate Centre is:
- Even though the Clinton Cards in the Westgate Centre is located in Oxford, the one is Summertown has a better location. Because there is only one Clinton Cards in Summertown, it has more business than the one in the Westgate Centre, which is one of two in Oxford.
Hypothesis Seven: At the same time of day, the Costa in the Claredon Centre will have a higher customer to staff ratio than either the Costa in Waterstones or Summertown. This will be affected by the size of the shop. (This is an original hypothesis).
The results I took showed that the Costa in the Claredon Centre has nine staff, and 38 customers, which are 4.22 customers for every one staff. The Costa in Waterstones has two staff and fifteen customers, which are 7.5 customers for every one staff. The Costa in Summertown has five staff, and 36 customers, which are 7.2 customers for every one staff. This means that although the Costa in the Claredon Centre has the most customers, it also has enough staff to be able to deal with a large amount of customers. The Costa in Waterstones doesn’t have very many staff (2) but also has a less amount of customers (15). The Costa is Summertown has almost half the amount of staff working at the same time as the one in the Claredon Centre, but has only two customers less, meaning that this Costa is likely to be understaffed.
The Costa in the Claredon Centre, as predicted, had the lowest customer to staff ratio (4.22:1). The next lowest was the Costa in Summertown (7.2:1). The highest customer to staff ratio was the Costa in Waterstones (7.5:1)
The results show that the Costa in the Claredon Centre had a much larger customer to staff ratio than both the other two, so this hypothesis is correct therefore it is accepted.
The reasons the Costa in the Claredon Centre would have the lowest customer to staff ratio are:
- It is the largest of the three, with the most seats and tables both inside and outside. The one in Waterstones is the smallest of the three.
- It is in the best location, in the centre of Oxford. The other one in Oxford is in Waterstones, making it less well-known and used mainly by Waterstones customers.
Section Five: Evaluation
Although I took the results whilst trying to keep everything as fair a test as possible, there would have been some problems with the methods of data collection. This evaluation is used to identify any problems with the methods, to discover whether my results are accurate and if not how they could be improved.
Problems and Solutions for Methods of Data Collection
Questionnaire
The questionnaires I took gave way to some of the most important results for my project. These results may not be accurate, though.
The reasons for these results being inaccurate and/or incorrect are:
- Some people we asked could have made the results up as they were on the spot. This makes my results incorrect, so less reliable.
- The number of questionnaires collected was small – I only collected fifteen. This could mean the results are inaccurate.
- The fact that I used random sampling, possibly creating a biased result (for example, asking less intimidating people, for example women in their sixties, and not getting a broad range of people).
- The fact that some people might not have wanted to answer, so that result was skipped.
- The timings for the questionnaires are not the same in each settlement, so there could have been different groups of people there for different reasons (for example people doing their food shopping, or taking their children back from school, meaning they are local. This also means you are more likely to ask these people, as there are more around at this particular time of day).
- The weather on the days when I conducted the questionnaires was different. The weather in Summertown was sunny, but it was raining in Oxford. This would have affected my results because it would have affected the amount of people out in Oxford on that day. There being less people out meant there were less people to choose from to ask some questions.
Some solutions to these problems would be:
- Ask more questionnaires (for example thirty in each settlement, and not only fifteen). This would make my results more accurate to improve the validity of my conclusions.
- Use systematic sampling (for example every third person). This would reduce bias and would probably get a representation of all ages and sexes.
- Ask the questionnaires at the same time of day in both settlements.
- Ask the questionnaires when the weather is the same. This would make the results represent a true value of the amount of people in each settlement.
- Ask the questionnaires at a number of times during the day, in both settlements, to compare when people visit each settlement and how far they travel for each time of day.
Conclusion
My results are not accurate, or as accurate as they could have been, and are therefore not valid. My results cannot be relied on for the following reasons:
- They do not represent a variety of people (I tended to only ask people near my age, or people much older).
- They represent the results for two completely different situations (the ones for Oxford show a sunny day at the time of day when there were quite a lot of people around. The ones for Summertown show a rainy day at the time of day where they would not have been many people).
- There were not enough questionnaires being asked.
- Some of the answers could have been incorrect.
This means that my Section Four: Conclusion would have been inaccurate for hypothesis one, five and six.
Height of buildings
There were a number of problems that I found when collecting this data.
These problems were:
- Not taking into account / not noticing the fact that there could have been underground basements or cellars.
- Not taking into account / not noticing the possibility of an attic with no visible windows, showing that it is there.
- Only taking the building heights for ten buildings on one street in each settlement.
Some solutions to these problems would be:
- Finding out if there was a basement/cellar in that building.
- Finding out if there was an attic in that building.
- Taking the building heights for more buildings in more streets in each settlement (for example taking the heights for twenty buildings in five streets).
Conclusion
This method of data is inaccurate, therefore my results are not accurate, or as accurate as they could have been, and are therefore not valid. My results cannot be relied on because of the previously stated problems. This means that my Section Four: Conclusion would have been inaccurate for hypothesis three.
Tax Disc Surveys
Tax Disc Surveys were vital for my project, yet there were a number of problems involved in conducting them.
These problems were:
- I only conducted twenty tax disc surveys on two streets in each settlement. This is probably not enough to get the full view on how far people are willing to travel to reach either Oxford or Summertown.
- The Post Office where the disc was stamped does not necessarily have to be the closest to where the car has travelled from. Suggesting otherwise would mean that the results are inaccurate, as they show a distance travelled by a car which hasn’t been travelled.
- Different times of day for the collection of tax discs in each of the settlements. This would have affected my results because it could have been the time of day where people were doing their daily shopping, meaning they are all local.
- Some of the tax discs were DVLA stamped, meaning they all came from one place. This would not reflect how far they had travelled.
Some solutions to these problems would be:
- Collecting more tax discs surveys in more streets in both settlements (for example, forty tax disc surveys in five streets in both Oxford and Summertown).
- Collect tax disc survey at the same time of day in both settlements.
- There is no solution to the problem that the Post Office may not be the nearest one, because I have no control over where people get their tax disc stamped.
Conclusion:
This method of data is inaccurate, therefore my results are not accurate, or as accurate as they could have been, and are therefore not valid. My results cannot be relied on because of the previously stated problems. This means that my Section Four: Conclusion would have been inaccurate for hypothesis one.
Pedestrian Counts
Pedestrian counts were not particularly useful for my results, but did help me get a general idea of how many people visit both areas.
The problems with this method of data collection were:
- A partner and I both counted the number of people for a minute on one side of the street each. The timings for this may have been different for each of us (for example I could have gone on for five seconds over a minute and my partner could have stopped two seconds before). This would be a problem particularly if the streets were really busy, as there would have been a large number of people.
- We only collected this data from Cornmarket Street in Oxford and Banbury Road in Summertown.
- The weather was different in both places when I conducted this, affecting the amount of people around.
- We collected this data at different times of day, meaning that in one place there could have been more people then there would have been if we had done the pedestrian counts on the same time of day.
Some solutions to these problems are:
- Increase the amount of time spent collecting this data (for example from one minute to five) to increase accuracy and make a few seconds over or under the time less significant.
- Make sure that we both have a watch to time ourselves, that the watch is set and stopped at the same time and that we stop counting exactly on one minute (or five minutes) mark.
- Have one person do both sides of the street in two different turns (for example, do the right side of the street for five minutes, then do the left side for five minutes).
- Conduct pedestrian counts on the same time of day in both Summertown and Oxford.
- Conduct pedestrian counts on days with similar weather in both Summertown and Oxford.
- Conduct pedestrian count on more than one street in each settlement – e.g. ten streets in Summertown and ten in Oxford.
Conclusion:
This method of data is inaccurate, therefore any results taken from this are not accurate, or as accurate as they could have been, and are therefore not valid. Had I used this method in my results, they would not have been reliable due to the previously stated problems.
Bus Frequency Counts
Bus frequency counts ended up being very important because they helped answer a whole hypothesis.
Some problems were:
- Only conducted it for five minutes, making the results less accurate because there could have been not many buses coming in those five minutes, but two minutes later there could have been twice the amount.
- Conducted bus frequency counts at different times of day, which would affect the number of buses running, or the traffic around, delaying the buses.
- Conducted bus frequency counts at different weather in both places, which would affect the traffic, delaying the buses.
Some solutions would be:
- Conduct bus count for ten minutes, for example, instead of five.
- Conduct bus frequency count at the same time of day with similar weather in both places.
Conclusion:
This method of data is inaccurate, therefore any results taken from this are not accurate, or as accurate as they could have been, and are therefore not valid. Had I used this method in my results, they would not have been reliable due to the previously stated problems. This means that my Section Four: Conclusion would have been inaccurate for hypothesis two.
Land Use Survey
A land use survey, shown in Section Three: Results, in hypothesis one, was important to help prove that Oxford would have a larger sphere of influence.
Some problems were:
- I conducted it with a partner, so we would have different views as it is completely subjective to whoever is conducting the land use survey. For example, what is low order to one person could be middle order to another.
- Only conducted it on one street in Oxford (Cornmarket Street) and one in Summertown (Banbury Road). This does not give me a full view on each settlement.
Some solutions would be:
- Only one person to conduct land use survey to avoid a difference in opinion.
- Conducting land use survey in more than one street in each settlement (e.g. five streets).
Conclusion:
This method of data is inaccurate, therefore any results taken from this are not accurate, or as accurate as they could have been, and are therefore not valid. Had I used this method to define my results and conclusion, they would not have been reliable due to the previously stated problems.
I feel there is not enough data for my results to be accurate, so it is my opinion that they are not valid. I should have collected more questionnaires, conducted all my methods when the weather was the same in both places, at the same time of day, and preferably on the same day of the week.
What went well?
- I have managed to collect all the data for my seven hypotheses, as required.
- I have a good range of results.
- My results were all in agreement with my hypotheses, except for one which was partly correct and partly incorrect.
- There are no anomalies.
What would I change?
If I were to repeat this project, I would:
- Collect more data (e.g. more questionnaires and more tax disc surveys)
- Make the data more accurate by collecting it in similar conditions for the two places.
- Compare Oxford to a larger settlement to make the project more interesting (e.g. London).
- Compare Oxford to a settlement of similar size (e.g. Cambridge).
Bibliography
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Internet –
- Internet - http://www.oxfordcity.co.uk/
- Books – Understanding GCSE Geography – Anne Bowen