Statistical Question Examples in Statistics

Start with the recap, study the fully worked examples, then use the practice problems to check your understanding of Statistical Question.

This page combines explanation, solved examples, and follow-up practice so you can move from recognition to confident problem-solving in Statistics.

Concept Recap

A statistical question is a question that anticipates variability in answers — it cannot be answered with a single fixed number because different data points will give different responses. It requires collecting data from multiple sources to answer.

'How old is my teacher?' has ONE answer - not statistical. 'How old are teachers at my school?' will have DIFFERENT answers for each teacher - that's statistical! The key: do you expect variation?

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How to Use These Examples

  • Read the first worked example with the solution open so the structure is clear.
  • Try the practice problems before revealing each solution.
  • Use the related concepts and background knowledge badges if you feel stuck.

What to Focus On

Core idea: Statistical Question starts by naming the question and variable before any graph or summary is chosen.

Common stuck point: Students often know a procedure related to statistical question but skip the recognition step: Have I named the variable, the possible responses, and the reason the responses may vary? That leads to a calculation or graph that looks reasonable but answers a different question.

Sense of Study hint: Ask: Have I named the variable, the possible responses, and the reason the responses may vary?

Worked Examples

Example 1

medium
Mia turns 'What is my height?' into 'What are the heights of students in grade 5?' If grade 5 has 24 students, how many data points will her statistical version collect?

Answer

2424

First step

1
Each student supplies one height measurement.

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Example 2

medium
A teacher writes 8 prompts; the statistical fraction is 34\frac{3}{4}. How many statistical prompts are there?

Example 3

hard
Sam wants to know typical bedtime for 4th graders. Which is the better statistical question: A) 'What time did Sam go to bed last night?' B) 'What time do 4th graders go to bed on school nights?' Answer A=1, B=2.

Example 4

medium
Which of these is a statistical question? A) 'How many minutes long is recess at our school?' B) 'How many minutes do students spend playing soccer at recess?' Answer with A=1 or B=2.

Example 5

challenge
A researcher asks 50 students a statistical question. Each non-blank answer counts; 6 are blank and 4 students answer twice (only the first counts). How many valid data values are in the set?

Example 6

easy
Which of the following is a statistical question? (a) How old is the headteacher? (b) How old are the students in Year 6? (c) What day is it today?

Example 7

medium
Rewrite each non-statistical question to make it statistical: (a) 'How many pages does this book have?' (b) 'What is the temperature right now?'

Practice Problems

Try these problems on your own first, then open the solution to compare your method.

Example 1

easy
Is 'How tall is the principal?' a statistical question? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 2

easy
Is 'How tall are the students in my class?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 3

easy
Is 'What is my age today?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 4

easy
Is 'How many pets do students in grade 5 own?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 5

easy
Of these two, how many are statistical: 'What is the capital of France?' and 'How long do students sleep?' Give the count.

Example 6

easy
Is 'What color are the eyes of people in my family?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 7

easy
Is 'How many legs does a spider have?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 8

easy
Is 'What is the favorite movie of kids in my school?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 9

medium
From a list of 4 questions, 3 anticipate variability and 1 has a single fixed answer. What fraction are statistical? Give as a simplified fraction.

Example 10

medium
A teacher writes 10 questions; 6 are statistical. How many are NOT statistical?

Example 11

medium
Rewriting 'How old is my dog?' to be statistical gives 'How old are the dogs at the shelter?'. If the shelter has 8 dogs, how many answers will the statistical version produce?

Example 12

medium
Among questions Q1..Q5, the statistical ones are Q1, Q3, Q4. If each correct identification is worth 2 points, how many points for identifying all statistical ones?

Example 13

medium
A survey question 'How many books did each student read this summer?' is asked to 20 students. How many data values does this statistical question generate?

Example 14

medium
If 7 of 12 questions on a worksheet are statistical, how many more statistical than non-statistical questions are there?

Example 15

medium
Turning 'What is the temperature now?' into a statistical question by measuring over 30 days yields how many temperature readings?

Example 16

challenge
A list has 15 questions. Statistical questions outnumber non-statistical ones by 3. How many are statistical?

Example 17

challenge
Each statistical question collects 5 responses; each non-statistical question collects 1. With 4 statistical and 6 non-statistical questions, how many responses total?

Example 18

challenge
A teacher rewrites 'Do I like pizza?' into a statistical question surveying a class. If 24 students answer and exactly 5/8 say yes, how many say yes?

Example 19

medium
Of 8 questions, 5 anticipate variability. What fraction are statistical? Give a simplified fraction.

Example 20

medium
A worksheet has 15 questions; statistical ones are double the non-statistical ones. How many are statistical?

Example 21

easy
Is 'How many minutes did each 4th grader spend on homework last night?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 22

easy
Is 'What time does our school start each day?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 23

easy
Is 'How tall is the Eiffel Tower?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 24

easy
Is 'How many siblings do kids on our soccer team have?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 25

easy
Is 'What is 7 times 8?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 26

easy
Is 'How long are the shoes of the kids in grade 4?' statistical? Answer 1 for yes, 0 for no.

Example 27

medium
A teacher prepares 12 questions for a survey project; 9 of them anticipate variability. How many are NOT statistical?

Example 28

medium
Of 20 survey prompts, 15 are statistical. What fraction are statistical? Give as a simplified fraction.

Example 29

medium
From 30 questions on a worksheet, 12 are NOT statistical. How many ARE statistical?

Example 30

medium
Of 25 questions, 40% are statistical. How many statistical questions are there?

Example 31

medium
If a question is statistical, it must anticipate variability. Among questions Q1-Q6, the statistical ones are Q2, Q3, Q5, Q6. How many are non-statistical?

Example 32

medium
A survey of 30 kids asks 'How many pets do you have?' If 10 say 0, 12 say 1, and 8 say 2, how many total data values were collected?

Example 33

hard
A class lists 50 questions; 25\frac{2}{5} are statistical and the rest are not. How many are NOT statistical?

Example 34

hard
A teacher labels 24 questions. The ratio of statistical to non-statistical is 5:35:3. How many are statistical?

Example 35

hard
A class of 28 students answers a statistical question. If 75% give a response, how many data values are collected?

Example 36

hard
Out of 16 prompts, 38\frac{3}{8} are statistical and the rest are not. How many are non-statistical?

Example 37

challenge
A teacher wants every group of 4 students to collect at least 4 data values from one statistical question. If the class has 32 students, what is the maximum number of distinct statistical questions the class can investigate?

Example 38

medium
Classify each question as statistical or non-statistical and justify: (a) 'How many goals did our team score last match?' (b) 'How many goals do professional teams score per match on average?' (c) 'What is the most popular pet among students in our school?'

Example 39

hard
A student asks: 'Do students who eat breakfast perform better on tests?' (a) Is this a statistical question? (b) What kind of data would need to be collected? (c) What type of study would be appropriate — observational or experimental?
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Background Knowledge

These ideas may be useful before you work through the harder examples.

data collection