Collecting Community Data

Overview

In this sixth lesson of Design a Sustainable Community, students plan and conduct a fair survey about community-space preferences. They build on prior learning about populations, samples and bias by writing questions, selecting respondents, collecting responses and organising categorical and numerical data in frequency tables.

Learning intentions

• WALT design an unbiased survey about community-space preferences.
• WALT explain how a sample represents a population and identify possible bias.
• WALT collect and record categorical and numerical data accurately.
• WALT organise responses into frequency tables for later analysis.

Success criteria

• I can write clear, relevant and unbiased questions.
• I can identify the population, sample and sampling method in my investigation.
• I can explain one possible source of bias and how to reduce it.
• I can accurately record responses in a frequency table.

Curriculum links

• Statistics — investigate census, sampling, experiment and observation, including practicalities and implications.
• Statistics — plan and conduct statistical investigations using fair samples and acknowledge uncertainty.
• Statistics — analyse and report data from primary sources using random and non-random sampling techniques.
• General capabilities — critical and creative thinking, ethical understanding, numeracy and personal and social capability.

Lesson structure (90 minutes)

1. 0–8 min · Hook and connect. Teacher displays a proposed community-space decision, such as “The council should build a skate park,” using the hook and community decision slides, and asks, “How could we find out what the whole community wants?” Students discuss why asking only friends or the loudest group may produce an unfair conclusion.

2. 8–20 min · Direct teach: fair investigations. Teacher revises population, sample, variable, categorical data, numerical data, census, sample and bias with the key statistics teaching slides; model how a convenience sample, such as surveying one friendship group, can misrepresent a population. Students classify sample scenarios and use the Statistical Investigation Planning Frame to identify a population, sample, sampling method and possible bias.

3. 20–35 min · Question workshop. Teacher demonstrates improving biased questions, changing “Don’t you agree our community needs more green space?” to “Which community space would you most like to see improved?” using the unbiased-question examples and discussion slides. Distribute the community survey design worksheet; students draft two or three questions, including at least one categorical and one numerical question, then peer-review them using a clarity, relevance and fairness checklist.

4. 35–45 min · Plan the sample. Teacher supports the group to agree on a realistic target population, sample size and method, such as systematically selecting every second person from a class list or using a simple random selection. Students complete the sampling section of the community survey design worksheet, explain why their method is practical and fair, and predict one limitation or source of uncertainty.

5. 45–65 min · Conduct the survey. Teacher models respectful, voluntary data collection: explain the purpose, avoid collecting names, allow respondents to decline and record answers exactly as given. Students work in pairs, using the community survey design worksheet as their survey form, while collecting responses from the six-person class and, where approved, an available nearby class or staff group; a designated data checker monitors consistent recording.

6. 65–82 min · Organise the data. Teacher models transferring results to a spreadsheet, checking totals and creating frequency tables using the data-entry and frequency-table slides. Students enter the class data into a shared spreadsheet or paper table, count each category, calculate the total number of responses and check that frequencies add to the sample size. They identify whether each variable is categorical or numerical and discuss whether the sample can reasonably represent the wider community.

7. 82–90 min · Share and exit check. Teacher facilitates a brief report-back using the plenary and exit-question slide. Each pair states its population, sample and one possible bias; students complete the exit questions on the survey reflection and exit section: “What was one fair feature of our survey?” and “What conclusion can we make, and what can’t we claim yet?”

Resources

• the Collecting Community Data slide deck
• the community survey design worksheet
• the Statistical Investigation Planning Frame
• Devices with spreadsheet software, or graph paper and calculators
• Pencils, clipboards and erasers
• Prepared sample dataset for students needing reduced data-entry load
• Sampling checklist and role cards
• Board or projector

Assessment

• Listen for accurate use of population, sample, variable, bias and frequency during questioning and planning.
• Check each pair’s survey for clear, relevant and unbiased wording, and inspect whether the proposed sample and method are justified.
• Use the completed frequency table and exit response to assess accurate recording, recognition of uncertainty and understanding of fair data collection.

Differentiation

• Support students with question stems, sample surveys, a vocabulary bank, role cards such as interviewer, recorder and checker, and the prepared dataset. Provide a partially completed frequency table and allow mentor support for spreadsheet data entry.
• For EAL learners, use icons and examples for community spaces, rehearse questions orally and provide sentence frames: “Our population is…”, “Our sample is…” and “A possible bias is…”.
• For students requiring additional support, reduce the number of variables, pair them with a supportive peer and provide a paper table before moving to digital entry.
• Extension: students design a two-variable investigation, such as preferred community space and age group, explain how they would sample each group fairly and critique at least two possible sources of bias.