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Interpreting Data Visualisations

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Interpreting Data Visualisations

At a Matariki celebration, Mei and Rawiri survey visitors about how they travelled to the event and how long they spent there. Use the visualisations and information below to interpret the data, check claims and explain what the evidence can—and cannot—show. Give units where relevant.

Travel to the celebration

A survey asked 120 visitors how they travelled. Each person selected one main travel mode.

Travel mode

Visitors

Percentage

Car

45%

Bus

25%

Walk or cycle

20%

Other

10%

1.Which travel mode was most common, and how many more visitors chose it than the next most common mode? Show or explain your calculation.

2.What percentage of visitors did not travel by car? Explain how you worked it out.

3.Mei says, “Exactly half the visitors arrived by car.” Is this supported by the data? State the relevant percentage and explain.

4.Rawiri wants to compare the number of visitors using each travel mode. Which display would communicate these category counts most clearly, and why?

Time at the event

A second survey recorded how long 20 visitors stayed. Times are in minutes, listed in ascending order: 35, 40, 45, 50, 50, 55, 60, 60, 65, 70, 70, 75, 80, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 110, 180.

5.Calculate the median time, lower quartile (Q1), upper quartile (Q3), and interquartile range (IQR). Use the median-of-halves method: find the median of the first 10 values for Q1 and of the last 10 values for Q3.

6.The 180-minute stay is much longer than the other times. Describe one way it affects the mean and one way the median responds to it.

7.Sketch a box plot for the stay-time data using the five-number summary. Mark the minimum, Q1, median, Q3 and maximum, and label the axis in minutes.

Spot the claim and check the evidence

A draft poster shows two bars for car travel: Event A, 45%; Event B, 50%. Its vertical axis starts at 40% and ends at 55%. The bars therefore look dramatically different, even though the values are close.

8.Identify the feature that could mislead viewers. Explain how changing the axis to start at 0% would affect the visual impression.

9.The survey was conducted at the celebration entrance for 20 minutes. Give one reason the results might not represent every visitor or all future Matariki celebrations.

10.Write a two-sentence summary combining one finding from the travel survey and one finding from the stay-time data. Use statistical vocabulary and avoid claiming more than the data supports.