HIGHCLIFFE Null Hypothesis The direction of longshore drift does not go from west to east. 1. Define the terms qualitative and quantitative data - give examples - include diagrams. Qualitative data is the opinion of the person or people who are collecting the data. For example if you were collecting data in the opinions of how the coast looks, then that is the views or opinions of the people collecting or the people researching. Quantitative data is facts and figures. So, if you collecting data on the width of a beach, you would use quantitative data, because you would use numbers. 2. Define the terms primary and secondary data collection. Primary data is the data that you collect specifically for your research project. Secondary data was collected by someone other than the person or people, who want to use it. 3. Define the terms random data, stratified data and systematic data. Random data is a method of selecting a sample (a random sample) from a statistical population in such a way that every possible sample that could be selected has a predetermined probability of being selected. Stratified data refers to a type of sampling method. The researcher divides the population into separate groups, called strata. Then, a probability sample is drawn from each group. Systematic data is a data collection in regular intervals. For example, measuring the gradient of the beach every 3m. 4. Define the term transect. A transect is a line following a route along which data is collected. You can collect data like the gradient of the beach along a transect, by collecting the gradient every 3m for example. 5. Describe how you collected your data on the field trip. On our trip, we had to measured the gradient of the beach, from the sea to the edge of the path at the top of the beach. As well as this we measured the volume of 10 stones every 3m as we went up the beach. We put a quadrat down on the beach, and collected 10 stones from each section and measured the volume. To measure the volume we used a jug and water from the sea to measure the volume. To measure the volume of the stones we filled the jug, took a measurement, put the 10 stones in, and then took another measurement. We subtracted the second reading, from the first, and we had our volume. We used a caliper as well to measure the height and lengths of the stone. To measure the gradient we used a gun clinometer , which gave us the degree the beach had gone up or down by. We did this every 3m, and then we had our gradient.
Our Results: We found that the direction of longshore drift, moved from east to west, therefore proving that our null hypothesis was indeed incorrect.