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Data Collection Planning

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Data Collection Planning

A youth group wants to find out whether the amount of time Year 11 students spend travelling to school is related to how they usually travel. Use the scenario and school information below to plan a fair, ethical data collection. Give reasons where asked.

Learning hub

Number of Year 11 students

Kauri

Mānuka

Rimu

Totara

Define the investigation

The youth group is interested in the relationship between travel time and usual travel mode for Year 11 students at this school.

1.Write a focused investigative question that identifies the group being studied and the two variables whose relationship will be explored.

2.Identify the population of interest and the sample. The group plans to survey 48 Year 11 students selected from the roll.

3.Classify each variable as categorical or quantitative: (a) usual travel mode, such as walking, cycling, bus or car; (b) travel time in minutes.

Choose a sampling plan

The group wants a sample that reflects the different learning hubs and is practical to organise.

4.Which plan is most likely to give a representative sample of the Year 11 roll? Choose one and explain why. A: survey the first 48 students who arrive at school; B: randomly select 12 students from each learning hub; C: ask 48 friends to take part.

Plan A
Plan B
Plan C

5.Using the roll table, calculate the proportion of all Year 11 students who are in Kauri. Give your answer as a percentage to one decimal place.

6.If the group chooses a proportional stratified sample of 48 students, how many should come from each hub? Show how you used the roll totals.

7.A student suggests surveying only people waiting at the bus stop because they are easy to find. Name one likely source of bias and explain how it could affect the results.

Design a fair, ethical survey

The group will collect data using a short questionnaire. Clear wording and respectful procedures help produce useful data.

8.Which question is clearer for measuring travel time? Choose one. A: “Is your journey long?” B: “On a usual school day, about how many minutes does your one-way trip to school take?” Explain one improvement in your chosen wording.

Question A
Question B

9.Write a suitable response list for usual travel mode. Include an option for someone whose mode is not listed and an option for someone who uses more than one mode.

10.Choose the most appropriate way to record travel time and explain why: exact time in minutes; or a broad category such as “short”, “medium” or “long”.

Exact time in minutes
Broad time categories

11.A student is asked to complete the questionnaire during class. State two ethical steps the group should take before or during data collection.

12.The survey is completed only by students who choose to return a paper form. What is one possible problem with this method, and give one practical way to reduce it.