Page 67 - Mathematics Coursebook

6.2 Collecting data

6.2 Collecting data

One way of collecting data is to carry out a survey and ask people A questionnaire is a form, with
questions. questions, that people fi ll in.

To do this you can use a questionnaire.
#is is a list of questions that you want to know the answer to.

You must write the questions very carefully and try to follow these rules.

1 Ask short questions and use simple language.
Give people boxes to tick whenever possible. Are you male female

2 Try to use questions that have a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer. Do you have any pets?
3 When there is a choice of answers, make sure there yes no
are no overlapping groups and that all possible How many pets do you have?
answers are included. 0 1–2 3–4 5 or more

4 Make sure questions are specific. How many times do you usually
Do not use words such as ‘sometimes’, ‘often’, go swimming each month?
‘regularly’ and ‘occasionally’.
never 1–4 times
5 Never ask a personal question as many people 5–8 times 9 times or more
won’t answer it or will give a false answer.
For example don’t ask people to write down their
For example don’t ask people to write down their How old are you?
age, but give them ranges of ages they can tick. under 20 years 21–40 years
41–60 years Over 60
6 Never ask a leading question as people may
tick the box they think you want them to, Do you agree that eating junk
rather than the one they should. food is bad for you?
This is an example of a leading question. yes no don’t know

7 Never ask people to put their names on a
questionnaire. They might not want to be identified.

8 Finally, don’t ask too many questions.
If your questionnaire is too long people won’t want to answer it.

Worked example 6.2

This is a question about diet. Do you agree that eating fresh fruit is good
a Give two reasons why the question is for you?
not appropriate for a questionnaire.
b Re-write the question so that it is agree strongly agree don’t know
suitable for a questionnaire.

a (1) It is a leading question. The question is trying to get you to agree.
(2) There is no ‘disagree’ box. If you do disagree there is no box for you to tick.
b Do you think that eating fresh fruit is good or bad for you? This question is not leading
good bad don’t know
but is asking for your opinion.

66 6 Planning and collecting data