Designing a Study Ch. 11.1

Definitions Statistics is the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample. The population in a statistical study is the complete set of people or things. The sample is the smaller set of the population from which the raw data is obtained. A misrepresentation of members of the population is called bias.

Basic Steps in a Typical Statistical Study

Types of Studies

Examples of Bad Questions Please indicate how much you agree or disagree the following statement about Madison High School. I feel welcomed by the staff and students. Fire drills are hard to have during class time. Do the fire drills help you feel prepared for a real fire? Much More prepared Slightly more Prepared Somewhat Prepared Not more prepared Does it seem possible or does it seem impossible to you that advisory has gotten even more boring? Very possible Possible Impossible Very impossible Would you be willing to attend an assembly every once a month on resumes if it increased your lunch time?

General Tips Identify what you want to know Remove “wouldn’t it be nice to know” questions Know how you will use and present the information Remove questions for which the respondent will mot have immediate assess to the information Remove questions that the respondent will not be willing to answer

Write a appropriate question/s. You want to open a new food place here in Rexburg, Idaho. You have a new car picked out, however, you have heard that some colors get pickup by the police more than others. You want the school to create a new _____ class. In a group of two or three, think of some data you want to collect from the students at Madison High School. Write a survey question/s. Once you have your question have another group read it to make sure it is unbiased.