Survey questions should be clear
A question such as 'Which fruit do you prefer?' is easier to answer than a vague question such as 'Do you like food?'
Which fruit do you prefer?
Do you like food?
Clear questions produce more useful data.
Year 7
Plan, present and interpret a simple survey
Ask clear survey questions, collect data fairly, present findings sensibly and explain what the results suggest.
Lesson overview
Statistics and data - survey design and interpretation
A survey is only useful if the questions are clear and the data is collected fairly. Good surveys use an appropriate sample, organise answers carefully and choose a chart or table that matches the type of data. Interpreting a survey means reading what the data suggests without claiming more than the evidence shows.
Fair samples matter
If you only ask one friendship group, the results may not represent the whole year group.
| Sample | Likely quality |
|---|---|
| One friendship group | biased |
| Different classes across the year | fairer |
A survey should try to represent the wider group.
Interpretation should match the evidence
If 12 learners chose football and 8 chose basketball, football is more popular in the sample.
Say what the sample shows, not what must be true for everyone.
Worked example
A survey asks 20 learners for their favourite after-school activity: sport 9, reading 6, music 5. What can you conclude?
| Activity | Responses |
|---|---|
| Sport | 9 |
| Reading | 6 |
| Music | 5 |
- Compare the response totals for each category.
- Sport has the highest total with 9 responses.
- Reading has more responses than music, but fewer than sport.
- So in this sample, sport was the most popular after-school activity.
Try it
Think about fairness, clarity and what the evidence really shows.
Question 1
Which survey question is clearer?
too vague
specific
too broad
Question 2
Which sample is likely to be fairest for a Year 7 survey?
| Sample type | Comment |
|---|---|
| One group | limited |
| Several classes | broader |
| One club | biased |
Question 3
If 12 learners chose football and 8 chose basketball, what can you conclude?
Question 4
Why is a chart useful after collecting survey data?
get responses
show clearly
explain findings
Question 5
Which statement shows careful interpretation?
| Activity | Responses |
|---|---|
| Sport | 9 |
| Reading | 6 |
Common mistakes
Watch for these when working through the lesson.
- Writing survey questions that are too vague or too leading.
- Assuming a small or biased sample represents everyone.
- Making conclusions that go beyond what the data shows.
Related topics
These ideas fit closely with this lesson.
- Construct bar charts, pictograms and frequency tables.
- Calculate mode, median, mean and range from small data sets.
- Substitute into formulae.