Data Collection Statistics Example 1
Follow the full solution, then compare it with the other examples linked below.
Example 1
easyA student wants to find out the favourite sport of students in her school. She decides to ask every student in her class. Is this a good method of data collection? Explain.
Solution
- 1 Step 1: Identify the population of interest — all students in the school.
- 2 Step 2: The student only surveys her own class, which is a subset. This may not represent the whole school because different classes may have different preferences.
- 3 Step 3: A better method would be to survey students from multiple classes or use a random sample from the entire school.
Answer
No — surveying only one class introduces bias. A random sample from the whole school would be more representative.
Data collection methods must match the population we want to learn about. Using a convenience sample (one class) can produce biased results that do not generalise to the whole school.
About Data Collection
The systematic process of gathering information to answer questions, using methods like surveys, experiments, or observations.
Learn more about Data Collection →More Data Collection Examples
Example 2 easy
Classify each data-collection method as a survey, an observation, or an experiment: (a) Recording ho
Example 3 easyA town council wants to know whether residents support building a new park. They place a survey form
Example 4 easyA school wants to know how many students ride the bus. They ask the first 20 students who enter thro