Plan field research and data collection

Design and execute geographic field research safely and ethically

Ground-truthing remote sensing, collecting data on unmeasured phenomena (social practice, soil chemistry), or understanding local context that maps cannot capture.

• · research question
• · study area map
• · terrain hazards
• · community context
• · equipment inventory

• · field data (transects, quadrats, interviews)
• · field notebook
• · ground truth

• · GPS/mapping equipment
• · sampling design software
• · interview recording tools

Ethics approval obtained; sampling strategy justified; safety plan filed; informed consent protocols ready

Random sampling misses key features; systematic sampling aligns with periodic terrain; opportunistic sampling biases toward accessible locations; interview data extracted without community partnership

• · Ravenstein's migration laws (1885) still predictive for step-wise migration patterns
• · Sampling strategy comparison table (random vs. systematic vs. stratified vs. purposive) with documented trade-offs
• · Quadrat methods standardized: vegetation density counted at 0.5m x 0.5m, rocky shores at 1m x 1m