Identifying fieldwork enquiry questions and hypotheses

Unit 3 of CCEA Geography is the fieldwork paper, sat under exam conditions but based on a real enquiry that the candidate has carried out. The first stage of the enquiry — and a frequent exam-question target — is choosing a suitable enquiry question and converting it into testable hypotheses.

What makes a good enquiry question?

A strong enquiry question is specific, geographical, measurable and feasible for a school fieldtrip.

Good question	Why it works
"How does the velocity of the Shimna River change from source to mouth?"	Geographical (river process), measurable (velocity in m/s), feasible (river survey at 5 sites in one day)
"Has the Titanic Quarter regenerated successfully?"	Geographical (urban regeneration), measurable (land-use survey, EQS), focused on a defined area
"Is the Mournes coastal path being damaged by tourism?"	Specific to a location, testable through footpath erosion measurements + visitor counts

Common weak questions

• "Are rivers important?" — too vague, no measurement.
• "Why is Belfast so big?" — historical, not field-measurable.
• "Is global warming real?" — global scale; no school-day fieldwork answers this.

From question to hypothesis

A hypothesis is a single, testable statement that you can prove right or wrong with data. Most enquiries use 2-3 hypotheses to break down the main question.

Example, for the Shimna river enquiry:

• H1: River velocity will increase from source to mouth.
• H2: River channel width and depth will increase from source to mouth.
• H3: Bedload size will decrease from source to mouth.

Each hypothesis is linked to specific data collection (flow meter for H1, tape and metre rule for H2, calliper sampling for H3).

Justifying the choice

Examiners reward students who explain WHY the question is suitable: relevance to the GCSE specification (links to a specific topic), accessibility (one-day return from school), safety (risk-assessed, supervised), sample size (enough sites/respondents to test the hypothesis).

CCEA tip

When asked "give an aim and TWO hypotheses for your enquiry", number the hypotheses, write each as a single statement (no "if/then" clauses), and keep them measurable. Vague hypotheses like "the river will be different" lose marks — be specific about what changes.