Statistics Basics Introduction

Name:

Date:

Statistics symbols and graphs illustration

📊 Part 1: Understanding Data

1. What is data? Choose the BEST answer:

Numbers written on paper

Information collected about people or things

Only things you can count

Pictures and graphs

2. Which of these are good investigative questions? (Tick all that apply)

What is our class's favourite sport?

How do Year 7 students travel to school?

Do you like pizza?

What pets do students in our school have?

3. When collecting data, we should always be:

Fast and careless

Honest and respectful of privacy

Creative with our answers

Secretive about our methods

4. Fill in the blanks using these words: variable, data, survey

When we collect information, we call it _______________. The thing we are measuring or asking about is called a _______________. One way to collect information is to do a _______________.

📈 Part 2: Data Visualisation

5. Look at this data about favourite fruits in a Year 7 class:

Apples: 8 students, Bananas: 5 students, Oranges: 6 students, Grapes: 3 students

a) Which fruit is the MOST popular? _______________

b) Which fruit is the LEAST popular? _______________

c) How many more students chose apples than grapes? _______________

6. What type of graph would be BEST to show the favourite fruit data above?

Bar graph

Line graph

Pie chart

All of the above work equally well

7. Create your own investigative question about your classmates:

8. Explain why it's important to organise data before creating a graph:

🎯 Part 3: Real-World Statistics

9. Give TWO examples of how statistics are used in everyday life in New Zealand:

Example 1: _______________________________________________

Example 2: _______________________________________________

10. A student says: "Our graph shows that boys are better at maths than girls." What questions should you ask about this claim?

11. Extension Challenge: Design a simple data collection plan for your investigative question from Question 7. Include what data you'll collect and how you'll organise it: