Zach

Read my Mathex reflections 2009;

Although you started off with an interesting explanation about what you were interested in finding out, you should start your statistical investigations with a question to investigate, and a little outline of the data you'll need to use to find out- this helps when you do your conclusions (answers) later. Well done for selecting an equal sample- I know you were interested in BBI students and this had a limited number of people- it may have been interesting to broaden your search to another (bigger) group, like all 12/13 year olds in the survey to see if BBI students were comparable. Your data is clear, and you used measures of average to dig deeper. Your graph is well constructed, and contains some useful findings, but a second graph would help you to look for 'finer' details, such as breaking the data down into gender too, to see if this influences the results? Your conclusion is brief, but accurate; try to interrogate a bit deeper, and try to explain the reasons for what you found out.

Zach's Online Stats Investigation

Well done for publishing your survey online- it is very impressive use of the wikis for organising learning. Sorry for the very late feedback!
 * //To use data and statistics/ To use mathematical inquiry// ||
 * Stage 1; Identify the problem and form a question || Clear question- but I'm interested in why you chose it and why finding out the answer to this question matters to you- when given the choice, always make sure you survey something with authentic purpose to you or your group. ||
 * Stage 2; Plan and hypothesise || Good sized sample- 100 people should give you some results and trends that you can trust to be accurate. You have selected the right kind of information to select from the survey in order to answer your questions. ||
 * Stage 3; Data collection || Well represented and grouped- good use of the online survey- it is better to get a sample of 100 randomly from a huge pool of people that 'reinventing the wheel' and making your own survey whenever possible! ||
 * Stage 4; Analysis of data || Your tables represent the data well- I would have been interested to see how these students were distributed around NZ- were 'motor' using students more likely to be located near cities or was cycling preferred in the rural areas? Little 'extra' groupings add more spice and variety to your results. ||
 * Stage 5; Graphing and charting your data || Clear and well labelled BUT check the accuracy of the final graph where you divided up the genders. You used percentages (which was correct for the whole sample of 100) BUT what percentage of girls, compared to the rest of the females in the survey walked, cycled etc? Look at, and compare the proportion of the (46) boys caught a bus- the proportion of each gender travelling in a certain way is dependent on how many of them there are in the sample... ||
 * Stage 6; Interrogating your graphed data || Some simple statements have been drawn from the graph, but at the moment, all we can tell is which mode of travel is most popular- we need to see if there are trends and favourite methods for each gender group. e.g. You said (accurately) that more females walked, BUT did a higher proportion of the females surveyed walk? ||
 * Stage 7; Conclusion, answer and 'So What' || You related well to your prediction, but need to do some more interrogation. Once you have done this, what can you do with your 'answer'? Who could you share this with in order to make a difference? ||

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