David

Here are my reflections;

Looking through your book, it is clear that there are several major stages of a statistical investigation missing. The first step to any investigation (like Science Fair) is to identify and clarify the issue/ question you would like to be answered. Although your sample size is reasonable, you haven't been clear about where the sample comes from, or how you've maintained a check on the accuracy- are your students from Auckland, Otago etc? Are your students Year 5...7...9...11?? These are other factors which may influence reaction time other than just gender. You need to be more thorough. Your graph is clear, but very simple. The investigation you were looking at lends itself to a dot plot- coloured x's for the genders, and crosses plotting age against reaction time- it MAY have produced an interesting trend? Well calculated average- the other statistical measures shoud also be calculated for reasons of accuracy. Are there any other factors which could have influenced the time of reaction or do you think this was one of the more 'honest' measures in the census? Finally, all surveys require a conclusion, identifying what has been discovered (or better still, answering the question which was being asked in the first place.


 * //To use data and statistics/ To use mathematical inquiry// ||
 * Stage 1; Identify the problem and form a question || Good question- clear enough for you to identify your 2 variables and this will help you to identify the type of data you will need form the survey. ||
 * Stage 2; Plan and hypothesise || You have hypothesised, but very briefly and with no reason at all for your thoughts and opinions. If you have asked a question, your hypothesis should be a natural progression- it's a bit like saying what you'd like to find out, without explaining why! ||
 * Stage 3; Data collection || Your sample is clear- only 2 variables to measure- I was just wondering why (if you focused on just 2 geographical areas) why you couldn't have surveyed much more than 50 year 8 students? ||
 * Stage 4; Analysis of data || You could certainly have looked in more detail- more students would possibly have given you clearer results too. ||
 * Stage 5; Graphing and charting your data || Clear graphs- same axes and scales made comparisons very easy. It is simple to use your graphs to answer your question because they are very easy to interrogate. ||
 * Stage 6; Interrogating your graphed data || Very little depth. Yes, the most popular for each location is easy to see, but were there any major differences in the 'state' (good word choice) they wanted to be? Why do you think 10% more of the North islanders wanted to be happy in comparison to the south? Could you have looked a bit deeper- did the gender of these groups have an influence- you could have got more from the data. ||
 * Stage 7; Conclusion, answer and 'So What' || Again, brief. Your conclusion didn't pick up on the difference- 10% is quite a major difference between 2 groups- you should now try to think of/ find out some possible reasons for the difference. ||

media type="custom" key="3527240"