Conclusion and Evaluation

IB Geo IA

Conclusion

Common Problems from Last Year’s Class

Description from Fieldwork Guide

• Students should summarize the findings of the fieldwork investigation. There should be a clear, concise statement answering the fieldwork question. It is acceptable for the conclusion to state that the findings do not match the student’s preliminary judgment or prediction.

• The suggested length of this section for work appropriate to criterion E is approximately 200 words.

Don’t Judge!• “Parents should be teaching their

children about safe sex, but they are not, so they are bad parents.”

• “This fertility rate is bad”• “Mexicans aren’t knowledgeable about

contraception” • “People in Slag are lazy, don’t exercise

and only eat junk food.” • “South Deering is least safe because of

the type of ignorant people that live there.”

• THESE ARE SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS AND MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE A JERK! This is bad parenting!!!

Take your opinions out

• The only conclusions you can possibly make must be related to what the data tells you.

• You cannot possibly reach this conclusion: – “This fieldwork points to a bigger problem, and

that is that teenagers don’t care about religion or consequences.”

Avoid Being Vague• Take out any language such

as the following:– Pretty low– Pretty high– Pretty good– Pretty bad– High education– Good fertility rate

• Replace with something more specific!

• What are examples of better options?

Conclusion Rubric

Marks Level Descriptor

0 The work does not reach the standard described by the descriptors below.

1 There is some attempt to draw a conclusion to the fieldwork question, which may not be completely consistent with the analysis.

2 There is a clear conclusion to the fieldwork question, consistent with the analysis.

Evaluation

Common Problems from Last Year’s Class

Description from the Fieldwork Guide

• Students should review their investigative methodology, including methods of collecting primary information. They may wish to suggest an alternative hypothesis. Within this, they should consider any factors that may have affected the validity of the data, including personal bias. They should discuss any limitations of the investigation and make recommendations for improvements and extensions. Students should suggest specific and plausible ways in which the study might have been improved and could be extended in the future.

• The suggested length of this section for work appropriate to

criterion F is approximately 300 words.

Do’s and Don’ts from IB

• Don’t use this section to do the following: – apologize for poor data collection – make excuses for bad weather– complain about fellow students or

questionnaire/interview participants – make excuses for insufficient time

• Do use this section to: – focus on weaknesses in sample size, assessing the

appropriateness of techniques/methods, and providing some recommendations for improvements.

No one likes a whiner…• Under no circumstances is this a place

for you to complain about your group, the people you surveyed, or about having to do this project. – “If my group met more often and showed

up to meetings when they were supposed to, this data would have been better.”

– “If people weren’t so ignorant and mean, they would have provided me with better data on the questionnaire.”

– “If we had more time to complete this project, I would have done better.”

There is still time…

• No one should be writing in their evaluation that they could have done better graphs and could have analyzed better.

• Make better graphs • Analyze better• What’s stopping you?

Evaluation Rubric

Marks Level Descriptor

0 The work does not reach the standard described by the descriptors below.

1 There is either some attempt to evaluate methods of collecting fieldwork information or some suggestion is made for improvement or extension.

2 Methods of collecting fieldwork information have been evaluated or there are valid recommendations for improvements or extensions.

3 Methods of collecting fieldwork information have been evaluated clearly. There are valid and realistic recommendations for improvements or extensions. There may be some suggestions for modifying the fieldwork question.