If you are doing a CBD - retailing study, then you will probably be measuring parameters such as:
| Measurement | Equipment | Units | Chart and Graphs |
| Land Use - including function of the buildings e.g. offices, entertainment, retailing | Blank Map for you to complete using your own key | Colour Coded Key - essential | |
| Retailing - assessment of the specific types of shops - e.g. comparison shopping, especially with ladies clothes and shoe shops | Blank Map for you to complete using your own key | Colour Coded Key - essential | |
| Vertical Zoning - counting the height of the buildings e.g. the number of floors and then assess the function of each floor | Blank Map and recording sheet | ||
| Pedestrian Counts - number of shoppers at a given site over say 2 minutes | Recording Sheet | ||
| Sphere of Influence - questionnaires - asking people where they have come from and what they have come to purchase | Questionnaires - at least 30 responses - closed questions - do not ask gender or age! | Assessment of Range and Threshold |
No Pie Charts please showing results of questionnaires! Think of another intelligent way to show your results. |
| Sphere of Influence - can also be assess by looking as tax disks of cars in car parks | Tax Disks - assumes people buy tax disks where they live! |
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| Litter Survey at each sampling site | Quadrat |
% |
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| Litter Bin Survey(!) at each site |
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| Chewing-gum Survey at each site | |||
| Noise Level |
You may choose to collect this if you are looking at Environmental Quality. 1. Decibel Meter 2. Qualitative Sound Level Recording Sheet |
Qualitative Sound Level Recording Sheet | |
| Cleanliness of Ground or Floor (if inside shopping Mall) | Sticky tape - dab onto ground or floor and then stick onto white paper! | Use your own 'greyscale' on a scale of 1-10 and put a number value to the colour of the sticky tape | |
| Reilly's Break-Point Analysis - if comparing two near-by shopping centres | Use 'Waugh' to get the equation need to calculate this |
All of the equipment (quadrat!) may be borrowed from the Earth Studies Department - ask your teacher
CBD - Retailing studies are popular investigations. Some candidates just focus on the CBD of Birmingham - comparisons between different areas make good investigations. Comparing the Function or Sphere of Influence of the Bull Ring, Digbeth and Brindley Place.
Another good comparison is the difference in shopper numbers and environmental quality in Touchwood and Mell Square in Solihull.
Other good studies include a comparison of the Sphere of Influence of Knowle's shopping facilities and with Solihull's shopping facitlities.
Some students even travel as far a field as Stratford-upon-Avon to investigate the CBD and its function and whether it is geared towards tourism of the indigenous (local) population.
Other straight-forward investigations are to look at 'clustering' of the functions of the CBD - e.g. banking, retailing, entertainment.
The options here for different topics on the CBD / Retailing are huge, but always remember to include some basic Geographical Theory such as clustering, comparison shopping etc. - use 'Waugh'.