Bi-polar
Another important method we used was the bi-polar, it was attractive, clearly defined it showed good results and helped us find the zone of improvement and the zone of decay. The problem with these results were that people would have different opinions on the same area, for example I could mark area 1 (Wilkinsons) 79/100 and then another pupil from the same class could mark it 31/100 this can cause a problem in the final results. The weather can change from good to bad this can affect peoples opinions on the area. Timing was a big factor because you could mark an area out of 100 then go and return 10 minutes later where there could be more traffic affecting safety, noise this can also change the results. The accuracy of the results is not brilliant but could have been made better by doing my own bi-polar’s making it a fairer test.
Pedestrian Count
The pedestrian count was another important method, this was to find the heart of the CBD, and it worked, we got good information about the people in the CBD. The problem with these results were that people could have lost count and counted the same person several times. The 10 minute count was quite a short one which could have been changed in a big way. The 10-minute count was only for that 10 minutes, which leaves a big gap in the rest of the day. It could have been improved by having a longer count, you could have two people at the same spot to see how accurate their results were, it could have been done for 10 minutes every day of the week at different times of the day.
Shop Count
Our fourth method was a shop count this was to find how many low and high ordered goods there were. We found over 50 different types. There were some shops that were missed and some shops that were mis-classified and put into the wrong group, the results were not perfect but they were acceptable, the results couldn’t be very accurate because there were some shops being built (zone of improvement). To improve this method you could repeat the count and compare it to the first one.
Shopper Count
The fifth method was the shopper count, this was to find the importance of the shops and services. Only one shop was chosen from each group because there was not enough time and it gave us a rough idea, some of the shops were closed, and for some of the shops there was more than one entrance, again the results were ok but not perfect. To improve this method you could have done longer counts, it could have been done in pairs.
Car park survey
The last method that I choose was a car park survey, this helped me find the sphere of influence of Weymouth’s CBD. The problem with these results was that people wouldn’t come into town if the weather was bad. Another aspect I could have done was a car park survey on Saturday morning got my results, then I could have gone back on Wednesday evening and got a different set of results. This method could be improved by taking a car park survey at area 1 on a Saturday morning, then returning to the same car park and doing the same sample size comparing the results and drawing a graph.
Conclusion
I think my conclusions about Weymouth CBD were true because I think I’ve got the evidence to prove it, the CBD is important, it is attractive and we can see where it ends. The conclusions may not be 100% true because we had some problems with the methods, which gave us problems in the results, which affected the conclusions. If we did this study again and made the methods more precise and accurate then the results and conclusions would be better aswell. If a student did this study in Cardiff they should find a CBD but it might not be as important or attractive.
