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How to Study Interrelationships  

Interrelationships study the way in which two or more human or natural features are connected and affect one another. Interrelationships are usually found when comparing patterns and trends of two different, even seemingly unrelated features and discovering that they are related.

Identify

Step 1: Identify the features that an Interrelationship may exist within or between.

Within means that feature A and B exist in the same location and influence each other

Between means that feature A causes or influences feature B which exists somewhere else   

Step 2: Identify the type of interrelationship.

There are 4 types, each connecting human (man made/man controlled) features or natural features (controlled or created by natural forces).

• Human - Human (The wealth of a country determines how quickly it recovers from a natural disaster)
• Human - Natural  (Forestry operations destabilize mountain slopes that can lead to landslides)  
• Natural- Human  (The location where hurricanes make landfall impact the cost of home insurance)
• Natural- Natural  (Volcanoes occur along tectonic plate boundaries)

Determine

Step 3: Determine how related features connect to form a system.

If feature A and feature B appear to be related, what is the relationship and what causes the relationship.

How does a change in feature A cause an effect in feature B? (eg. As tectonic plates shift, the force of their motion causes local ground vibrations we call earthquakes)

How strong is the relationship? Does A always cause B or only in some situations?   (Strong: Shifting tectonic plates cause earthquakes) (Weak: Thunderstorms can create tornadoes but not all thunderstorms result in a tornado)

Analyze

Step 4: Analyze how the system of related features influence natural characteristics or processes.

Does it increase or decrease natural processes? (eg. Large volcanic eruptions have shown to reduce rainfall levels in the Nile region of Africa during the year after eruption)

Step 5: Analyze how the system of related features influence human activity.

Does it help people? Does it hurt people? (eg. Large volcanic eruptions cause crop failure and famine in the years that follow the eruption.This results in great levels of human suffering and death.