Statistical Question Statistics Example 1
Follow the full solution, then compare it with the other examples linked below.
Example 1
easyWhich 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?
Solution
- 1 Step 1: A statistical question anticipates variability in the responses — it expects different answers from different observations.
- 2 Step 2: (a) 'How old is the headteacher?' has one fixed answer → not statistical. (c) 'What day is it today?' has one fixed answer → not statistical.
- 3 Step 3: (b) 'How old are the students in Year 6?' will produce different ages for different students → this is a statistical question because it anticipates variability.
Answer
(b) 'How old are the students in Year 6?' is the statistical question.
A statistical question is one that can be answered by collecting data and where we expect variability in the data. Questions with a single definite answer are not statistical questions because there is no variability to analyse.
About Statistical Question
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.
Learn more about Statistical Question →More Statistical Question Examples
Example 2 medium
Rewrite each non-statistical question to make it statistical: (a) 'How many pages does this book hav
Example 3 mediumClassify each question as statistical or non-statistical and justify: (a) 'How many goals did our te
Example 4 hardA student asks: 'Do students who eat breakfast perform better on tests?' (a) Is this a statistical q