Shopping Centre Vs Transport Methods

Shopping centre vs transport methods

One of my main strengths from the research process was the way I recorded and then presented the data. The tally charts I used for pedestrian and traffic counts were clear. The charts consisted of three columns one for each of the three times, the traffic count charts had two individual columns to represent west and east sides of the road for each of the three times. By recording the data in these tally charts I was able to observe the general patterns such as, St lukes is the busier mall with more pedestrians( 28 more on Thursday and 20 more on Sunday than downtown) and higher traffic count for St lukes (39 more on Thursday and27 more on Sunday than downtown).

I presented my data in 5 to 6 different methods with each helping me observe similarities and differences between St lukes and downtown malls. My column graphs showed patterns of movement in pedestrian and traffic counts thus enabling me to identify the similarity that both St lukes mall and downtown mall are busier on Thursday than on Sunday, St lukes had 21 more pedestrian entering the mall on Thursday and downtown had 13 more pedestrians entering on Thursday. Moreover my pie graphs were useful in distinguishing between the travel methods for the 2 malls and it can be easily seen as a percentage that 44% of the people questionnaire saying they travel by car to St lukes while only 12% said they come to downtown mall by car.

The quantity of data that I have collected is inappropriate in some areas; this is evident from the data I collected for number of vehicles entering St lukes mall fro two different entrance (St lukes rd and Morningside rd). This additional data was not required for my research as I did not collect similar type of data for Downtown mall which meant that I was unable to link this data towards answering my research question.

There was an error in my collection of data. For the pedestrian counts on Thursday my start time at downtown was 3pm where as my start time at St lukes was 6pm. This is because St lukes is open till 9pm( Westfield info) on Thursday where as downtown closes by 6pm. This should not have been done as my conclusion on claiming that St lukes is busier on Thursday than downtown is not valid as the late opening of St lukes on Thursday night might have been the reason more people entered the mall and more cars passed by due to people coming into the mall after work.

My data is accurate as it was collected on Thursday (weekday) and Sunday (weekend) which prevents inaccuracy caused by lack of data or unreliable data which would have resulted if only one day was to be done for collection or only weekdays or weekends done. The 3 different times with 30 minute intervals for pedestrian counts and traffic counts show sufficiency , moreover data was collected from two different entrances which further improved accuracy( St lukes- level 2 parking entrance and