Acknowledgements

I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, C.S. Jeffery, for providing me with a research topic for my final year project, and for his patience, advice and assistance throughout. I am very grateful to Chris Winter, who supplied me with the code necessary to conduct this research, and who provided every assistance when required, which was often. I should write a quick note of thanks to the SDSS team and participating institutions for providing all of the data used during the course of this project. I would like also to mention the staff and students at Armagh Observatory for their friendly welcome, provision of a wonderful working environment and their helpful support. Special thanks to Toby, Eamonn and Geert, who put a roof over my head for 3 months. Lastly, but by no means leastly, I would like to thank my parents, family and friends for their continued support, both financial and, well, non-financial