How_To_Be_Good_At_Math

268 STATISTICS •^ DATA HANDLING

Which fruit do you prefer?

Orange

Apple

Grapes

Watermelon

Banana

Data handling

Statistics is often called data handling. “Data” just means information.

Statistics involves collecting, organizing, and presenting (displaying) data.

It also involves interpreting the data – trying to understand what it can tell us.

We can collect data by carrying out

a survey. In a survey, we ask a group

of people questions and record their

answers. These two survey robots are

asking a class of school children which

fruit they prefer.

If there are several possible answers

to a question, these may be listed

on the questionnaire. There will be a tick

box beside each answer so that it is

quick and easy to record a response.

The answers the children give, before the

data is organized, are called raw data.

Survey questions are often written

on a form called a questionnaire.

This is the robots’ questionnaire. It asks

children to choose between five fruits.

Voting

Another way to collect data is to

hold a vote about something. You

ask a question, and people give

their answers – for example, by

raising a hand. Then you count the

number of raised hands. These

robots are voting on whether they

prefer nuts or bolts.

This tick

shows one

child likes

grapes best

??

Nuts 6

Bolts 2

Nuts or bolts?

268_269_Data_handling.indd 268 29/02/2016 18:06