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Investigation outlines

Investigations, planned step by step

Real investigations, taken through the guide one step at a time.

Secondary dataGlobalAir quality
The Montreal Protocol: who had stopped by 1996?

The guide's secondary-data worked example, step by step: one global file, the two groups the treaty itself creates, and the year the treaty told one of them to reach zero.

A comparison of CFC consumption in 1996, as a percentage of each party's own highest year, between Article 5 and non-Article 5 parties to the Montreal Protocol.

5 steps outlined · 6 sourcesOpen
Secondary dataSub-Saharan AfricaFood and farmingRivers and lakes
Farming, population and water stress in sub-Saharan Africa

One published global dataset, taken from a vague interest in farming's water use to a question, a real-world strategy, a counted sample of 20 countries and a chosen test.

What is the relationship between population growth (%) and the change in the agricultural sector's contribution to water stress (percentage points) across the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, 2005 to 2020?

5 steps outlined · 10 sourcesOpen
Secondary dataFranceBiodiversityFood and farming
Wolves returning to the French Jura

A national wildlife monitoring file, cut down to three departments and twelve years, set against a culling plan that farmers and conservation groups are fighting over in court.

What is the relationship between year and the number of communes with confirmed wolf evidence in the Ain, Doubs and Jura departments, 2013 to 2024?

5 steps outlined · 10 sourcesOpen
Secondary dataGlobalAir qualityPeople and development
Did wealth decide how much CFC the grace period released?

Three published files joined on country code: how much ozone-depleting chemical each developing country used while the treaty allowed it, compared with how rich it was at the start of that period.

What is the relationship between GDP per person (1995 to 1997 average) and total CFC consumption per million people, 1996 to 2009, across the Article 5 parties to the Montreal Protocol?

5 steps outlined · 9 sourcesOpen
Secondary dataGenevaWater pollutionRivers and lakes
Are Geneva's rivers cleaner than they were?

One cantonal monitoring file, the same 48 river stations measured twenty-five years apart, and a river project that farmers said had its priorities in the wrong order.

A comparison of mean E. coli (CFU/ml) at the same 48 Geneva river stations in 1995 to 2000 and in 2019 to 2024.

5 steps outlined · 4 sourcesOpen
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Investigations, planned step by step · ESS IA guide | Revise