Appendix 2 7, 8; 9GE0/04 - Communicating evidence and preserving independence

Ownership at each investigation stage

Independence concerns who makes the decisions and produces the work, rather than whether every observation was collected alone.

Pearson's Appendix 6 distinguishes stages where collaboration may be allowed from stages that require independent work. Initial exploration of a focus, devising methodology and sampling, and primary data collection may be collaborative. The student must individually finalise the title, focus and purpose. Where used, secondary data selection and collection must be independent; presentation, analysis and interpretation, conclusions and evaluation must also be independent. Working alone remains possible at a stage where collaboration is allowed.

A group can therefore collect permitted primary measurements without producing one group report. Each student must understand and describe how the shared observations were obtained, select representations, analyse results and write their own account. Sharing finished graphs, coded interpretations or conclusion paragraphs crosses a different boundary from sharing the permitted primary observations. Changing a few words in another person's analysis does not make it independently produced.

Teachers can explain broad enquiry principles, discuss exploratory ideas and provide general guidance, including safety and ethics. They review the proposal form and confirm that a provisional title can meet the requirements. They must not supply a list of titles to choose from, candidate-specific model answers or templates, detailed draft improvements, or provisional marks for a candidate to improve upon. After formal submission and marking, work must not be returned for improvement. These subject-specific controls also apply to third-party fieldwork providers.

Assistance beyond general guidance, or collaboration where independence is required, must be disclosed, recorded on the investigation form and taken into account in assessment. Recording prohibited assistance does not make it an appropriate way to complete the work. Tell the teacher about outside help. Learn methods from unrelated formative examples, then make the decisions for your own investigation yourself; do not ask a tutor, another student or software to produce your actual analysis or report.

A clear route from question to judgement

A report communicates a reasoned enquiry when a reader can follow why evidence was collected, how it was analysed and how it supports the answer.

The report needs a clear question derived from compulsory or optional specification content, a justified geographical context, relevant research, an explained method, presented and analysed evidence, conclusions and critical reflection. These are functions of an enquiry, not prescribed chapter headings or a candidate-specific writing frame. Choose an organisation suited to your own question. For example, integrating method limitations alongside each result can be useful when different sub-questions use different sources; it does not remove the need to judge the overall investigation.

Make each empirical claim traceable to its evidence. Give figures and tables unique identifiers and refer to them in the relevant analysis. A caption should identify what is measured, where and when, the units, source and relevant sample information. Map keys, scale, orientation and coordinate information should fit the purpose. Distinguish observed values from interpolation, forecasts or a fitted line. Mark original illustrative figures as illustrative; never present them as actual collected data.

This is a deliberately brief invented practice fragment, not a candidate's investigation: “Table 2 shows 9 of the 15 sampled evening users reported a transport difficulty. This suggests a barrier within this sample, but the convenience selection excludes non-users and cannot estimate the proportion of all residents affected.” The claim, denominator, source reference, interpretation and limit are visible. “Transport is terrible, as shown above” conceals what was measured and who was represented.

A result paragraph should move from evidence to a geographical interpretation, considering exceptions or another explanation where relevant. Connect the relevant theory to the findings: citing a theory in an introduction and never returning to it leaves its explanatory value untested. Conclusions draw the strands together, while evaluation explains the consequences of method and evidence limitations.

Keep essential evidence and reasoning in the main account. An appendix can hold anonymised raw records, coding decisions or extended calculations where appropriate, but an unexplained bundle of material cannot substitute for analysis. Cross-reference what the reader needs and avoid including identifying material simply to make the report appear more complete.