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WHAT IS A STATISTICAL QUESTION?
Activity Items
The following items are part of this activity and appear at the end of this student version.
- Item 1: Radio Set Ownership Map
- Item 2: Map of U.S. Regions and the Land Areas of the 50 U.S. States and District of Columbia
Student Learning Objectives
- I will be able to distinguish between statistical questions and other types of questions.
- I will be able to formulate and answer my own statistical questions, drawing conclusions based on those answers.
- I will be able to understand the concept of variability within a data set.
STUDENT VERSION
WHAT I S A STATISTICAL Q UESTION? STUDENT VERSION
NAME: DATE:
A statistical question is a question that can be answered by collecting data that vary. For example, “How old am I?” is not a statistical question, but “How old are the students in my school?” is a statistical question. This is because to answer the second question, you would need to determine the ages of all students in your school and there would be variability in those data (since not all students are the same age).
Part 1 – Determine If Questions Are Statistical
Imagine you want to find out about the height of students in your class using statistics. Read each question below and decide if it is a statistical question. Then explain your answer. Question Is it statistical? (Yes/No) (^) Explanation 1 How tall are you? 2 How tall, in inches, was Marco on his last birthday? 3 How tall are the students in your class, in centimeters? 4 Is Preston taller than 60 inches?
WHAT I S A STATISTICAL Q UESTION? STUDENT VERSION
- Determine which questions in the table below are statistical and if they could be answered using the data in Item 1. (You don’t have to actually find the answers to the questions!) Question Is it statistical? (Yes/No) Could it be answered with data from Item 1? (Yes/No) Explanation 1 What percentage of families in Florida had a radio set in 1930? 2 Which region of the United States had the lowest rates of radio set ownership in 1930? 3 In 1930, how much did the radio ownership rates for different states vary? 4 In 1930, why did a greater percentage of families in California own a radio set compared with families in nearby states?
WHAT I S A STATISTICAL Q UESTION? STUDENT VERSION
Part 3 – Write Your Own Statistical Questions
Use Item 2: Map of U.S. Regions and the Land Areas of the 50 U.S. States and District of Columbia, where states are listed in order from largest to smallest area, to complete the following prompts:
- Write three statistical questions that you could answer using data from Item 2.
- Use data from Item 2 to actually answer each question.
- Explain how you found each answer.
- Draw a conclusion about what your answer means for the larger data set.
- Write a related question for each of your statistical questions (but don’t answer this one). Example Question: How do the areas of each of the three states on the West Coast vary? Answer: Washington = 71,298 square miles; Oregon = 98,379 square miles; California = 163,695 square miles Explanation: I found these areas by locating each state in the table. Conclusion: Each of the three states on the West Coast has a different area, ranging from about 71,000 to 164,000 square miles. Related Question: How do the areas of the states on the West Coast compare with the areas of the states on the East Coast? Question 1: Answer: Explanation: Conclusion: Related Question:
WHAT I S A STATISTICAL Q UESTION? STUDENT VERSION
Part 4 – Draw Conclusions From a Graph (Optional)
The following graph shows the percentages of people aged 3 and older in the United States who were enrolled in school at different levels — ranging from nursery school (pre-K) to college — from 1955 to 2016.
Distribution of School Enrollment of the U.S. Population 3 Years and Older, by Level:
1955 to 2016
www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/time-series/ demo/school-enrollment/Figure%20A-1_2016.pdf 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2016 Figure A-1. Distribution of School Enrollment of the U.S. Population 3 Years and Over, by Level, 1955 to 2016 College High School Elementary School Kindergarten Nursery School Data on nursery school enrollment not available from 1955 to 1963 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey
WHAT I S A STATISTICAL Q UESTION? STUDENT VERSION
- Examine the graph and write down any observations about the data or the graph.
- Write a statistical question that can be answered using data in the graph, answer your question, explain how you found the answer, and write a concluding statement about your answer: Question: Answer: Explanation: Conclusion:
Item 2: Map of U.S. Regions and the Land Areas of the 50 U.S. States and District of Columbia
https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf
Item 2: Map of U.S. Regions and the Land Areas of the 50 U.S. States
and District of Columbia (Continued)
1 Includes all 50 states and the District of Columbia. https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/2010/geo/state-area.html
- United States^1 3,796, State Area in Square Miles
- Alaska 665,
- Texas 268,
- California 163,
- Montana 147,
- New Mexico 121,
- Arizona 113,
- Nevada 110,
- Colorado 104,
- Oregon 98,
- Wyoming 97,
- Michigan 96,
- Minnesota 86,
- Utah 84,
- Idaho 83,
- Kansas 82,
- Nebraska 77,
- South Dakota 77,
- Washington 71,
- North Dakota 70,
- Oklahoma 69,
- Missouri 69,
- Florida 65,
- Wisconsin 65,
- Georgia 59,
- Illinois 57,
- Iowa 56, State Area in Square Miles
- New York 54,
- North Carolina 53,
- Arkansas 53,
- Alabama 52,
- Louisiana 52,
- Mississippi 48,
- Pennsylvania 46,
- Ohio 44,
- Virginia 42,
- Tennessee 42,
- Kentucky 40,
- Indiana 36,
- Maine 35,
- South Carolina 32,
- West Virginia 24,
- Maryland 12,
- Hawaii 10,
- Massachusetts 10,
- Vermont 9,
- New Hampshire 9,
- New Jersey 8,
- Connecticut 5,
- Delaware 2,
- Rhode Island 1,
- District of Columbia
