How to collect and record data booklet
How to collect and record data booklet
- Unit 1: Numbers
- Unit 2: Geometry and measure
- Unit 3 : Statistics and probability
🎯 In this topic you will
- Plan an investigation to answer a statistical question and decide what data should be collected.
- Carry out investigations in order to answer statistical questions.
- Record data accurately using a dot plot.
🧠 Key Words
- data
- dot plot
- statistical question
Show Definitions
- data: information that is collected, recorded, and used to answer questions or make decisions.
- dot plot: a simple graph that uses dots to show how often each value occurs in a set of data.
- statistical question: a question that can be answered by collecting data and that expects variability in the answers.
Planning an Investigation
T o collect useful information to answer a question, you need to plan an investigation. You also need to plan how to record the data so that it is easy to read and use.
Why Data Matters
L eaders and business people need to collect and record data to answer questions in order to make good decisions.
❓ EXERCISES
1. Alice wants to answer the question:
How many star jumps can we do in $1$ minute?
She uses four friends to investigate the answer.
She asks her friends to do star jumps for one minute.
She uses a stopwatch and paper to record the results.
She records the results in this table.
| Name | Number of star jumps |
|---|---|
| Ben | $30$ |
| Cerys | $24$ |
| David | $27$ |
| Eli | $32$ |
a. What was the greatest number of star jumps done in a minute?
b. Who did the least number of star jumps?
c. What was the total number of star jumps for Alice’s friends?
👀 Show answer
a. The greatest number was $32$.
b. Cerys did the least number of star jumps.
c. The total was $30+24+27+32 = 113$ star jumps.
2. You are going to plan an investigation to answer the question:
How many multiples of $4$ can we write in two minutes?
Copy and complete these sentences to describe how you will collect and record the information.
The people I will use are ____.
I will ask the people to ____.
The equipment I will need is ____.
I will record the data using ____.
Carry out your investigation. Record your results.
a. What was the least number of multiples of $4$ written?
b. Who wrote the most multiples of $4$?
c. How many multiples of $4$ were written in total?
👀 Show answer
Answers depend on the investigation carried out. Results will vary.
3. Write your own question to investigate.
How many ____ can we do in $5$ minutes?
Copy and complete these sentences to describe how you will collect and record the information.
The people I will use are ____.
I will ask the people to ____.
The equipment I will need is ____.
I will record the data using ____.
Carry out your investigation. Record your results.
a. What was the highest number of ____?
b. Who did the least ____?
c. How many ____ were done in total?
👀 Show answer
Answers depend on the question chosen and the investigation carried out.
❓ EXERCISES
$4.$ Record this data about the number of books read this month in a dot plot.
Number of books read by learners in Class $4$:
$1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 2, 2, 4, 1, 5, 3, 4, 2, 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 4$
Copy this axis. Remember to label the axis.
Draw one dot above the number on the axis for each time the number appears in the data.
👀 Show answer
$5.$ These are the scores Class $4$ got in their spelling test.
$10,\ 5,\ 8,\ 9,\ 10,\ 10,\ 9,\ 3,\ 10,\ 6,\ 6,\ 8,\ 9,\ 10,\ 6,\ 10,\ 9,\ 10,\ 9,\ 10$
Record the scores in a dot plot.
👀 Show answer
$6.$ This dot plot shows how many hours of sport learners in Class $4$ do each week.
a. How many people do $0$ hours of sport each week?
b. How many people do $4$ hours of sport each week?
c. How many people do more than $2$ hours of sport each week?
d. Write a sentence of your own describing the data in the dot plot.
The dot plot shows that ____.
👀 Show answer
a. $5$ people do $0$ hours of sport each week.
b. $0$ people do $4$ hours of sport each week.
c. $4$ people do more than $2$ hours of sport each week.
d. The dot plot shows that most learners do between $0$ and $2$ hours of sport each week.
🧠 Think like a Mathematician
a. Start critiquing tally charts and dot plots by writing about their differences and similarities.
b. Review your list carefully and think through each point on your own.
c. Do you prefer recording data with a tally chart or a dot plot? Why?
Show Answers
- a. Both tally charts and dot plots are used to record how often values occur. A tally chart groups counts using marks, which makes counting easier for large numbers, while a dot plot shows each value as a dot, making patterns and clusters easier to see.
- b. When reviewing the list alone, you can check whether each similarity or difference is clear, accurate, and based on how the data is displayed rather than personal preference.
- c. A dot plot may be preferred because it makes the distribution and most common values easy to see at a glance, while a tally chart may be preferred when counting large amounts of data quickly.
❓ EXERCISES
$7.$ Here are pages from two children’s story books.
a. Which of these two storybooks do you think is easier to read?
b. What data could you count, measure or sort on the pages to show which book is easier to read?
c. Discuss your ideas with a partner.
d. Collect data to compare the two books.
e. Display the data in a table, graph or chart.
f. What is the same about the two books.
g. What is different about the two books.
h. Find two books in your classroom and collect data from them to show which is easier to read.
👀 Show answer
a. Book $1$ is likely easier to read because the sentences look shorter and the vocabulary appears simpler.
b. You could count or measure: the number of words on the page, the number of sentences, the average sentence length (words per sentence), the number of long words (for example words with many syllables), the font size, the number of lines, and the amount of space between lines.
c. Write your ideas clearly and compare them with another person’s ideas, noting any similarities and differences.
d. Collect the data you chose (for example word count and sentence count) from both Book $1$ and Book $2$ using the same method for each book.
e. Put your results into a table and then display them in a simple bar chart (or another graph) so it is easy to compare Book $1$ and Book $2$.
f. They are both story books, both have text on a page, and both are meant to be read from left to right in lines of writing.
g. One book may have longer sentences, more difficult words, smaller writing, or more words on the page than the other.
h. Choose two classroom books, collect the same measurements for both (for example words per page and average sentence length), and use your table or graph to decide which is easier to read.
$8.$ With a partner choose your own question to investigate.
Examples:
How many ____ can people do in ____ minutes?
How many ____ do people do in one week?
Copy and complete these sentences.
• The people I will use are ____ .
• I will ask the people to ____ .
• The equipment I need is ____ .
Collect the data.
Record the data in a dot plot.
Write three sentences about the data in your dot plot.
👀 Show answer
Example investigation: How many star jumps can people do in $1$ minute?
Copy and complete these sentences (example):
• The people I will use are my classmates.
• I will ask the people to do as many star jumps as they can in $1$ minute.
• The equipment I need is a stopwatch (or timer) and paper and pencil.
Collect the data: Record each person’s number of star jumps.
Record the data in a dot plot: Put one dot above each number for each person who got that number.
Write three sentences about the data (example):
$1.$ Most people did between $20$ and $30$ star jumps in $1$ minute.
$2.$ The most common score (the mode) was $25$ star jumps.
$3.$ Only a few people did more than $30$ star jumps, so the higher scores are less common.