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18.10 Surveys

Worksheet
Survey questions
1

State whether the following questions are biased or not biased:

a

Do you want a soup or a sandwich for lunch?

b

What do you do on a Sunday morning?

c

Do you like these shoes?

d

Which of these two shirts do you prefer?

e

Do you think the government should be allowed to cut down some of the oldest trees in the area to construct a metro railway line in the city?

f

Do you prefer to read newspapers or watch the news on television?

g

Do you take these extra strength multi-vitamins to supplement your diet?

h

Do you prefer the full time degree program or part time degree program?

i

Should the government enforce a minimum drinking age for its citizens?

j

Do you eat at least the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables to ensure a healthy and long life?

k

Do you think bike helmets should be mandatory for all bike riders?

l

Do you prefer the natural beauty of hardwood floors in your home?

m

Do you exercise regularly?

n

Don't you think this newspaper is biased?

o

Do you prefer the look and feel of thick lush carpeting in your living room?

2

State whether each of the following biased questions are leading or emotive:

a

Do you want a nutritious risotto for lunch or the usual sandwich?

b

Do you watch TV on a Sunday morning like everyone else?

c

I don’t like these shirts. Do you?

d

Do you prefer this rad shirt or the ordinary one on the shelves at the moment?

3

Bill is interviewing people about how water pollution is affecting sharks. Explain whether the following questions should be used to avoid bias:

a

Sharks nets strangle 213 sharks a year. Do you think shark nets are a bad idea?

b

Shark nets are installed on 50 beaches in NSW. Do you support shark nets?

c

Sharks kill 8 people a year. Do you think shark nets are a good idea?

d

Shark nets cost \$100\,000 a year and barely help. Do you support shark nets?

4

Explain why the following questions are inappropriate for a survey:

a

How many large electronic devices are in your home?

b

Many people have worked incredibly hard and even died making this bridge. Do you like it?

5

Mario is interviewing students to find out how often they read. Explain whether the following questions would be appropriate questions to ask:

a

Do you prefer to read or watch TV?

b

Is English your favourite subject?

c

How many books have you read this year?

d

Do you prefer fiction or non fiction books?

6

Explain whether the results of the following surverys are likely to be biased or not:

a

Rosey is asking people on her soccer team "What's your favourite sport?"

b

James randomly selected people from his school to find about the school sports. He asked "What's your favourite school sport?"

c

Gwen randomly selected people from her school and asked "The local AFL team is donating money to our school this term. What's your favourite sport?"

7

The motor authority wants to design a new advertising campaign targeting speeding among young drivers. To help make an effective ad, they want to ask a sample of young drivers to answer some questions in a survey. Explain whether the following questions are biased or not:

a

How old are you?

b

Do you pay attention to speed signs?

c

What is a safe speed?

8

Neil is interviewing people outside of a train station. Will the following questions most likely produce biased results? If so, explain your answer.

a

Should the government spend more money on public transport?

b

Should the train seats face the same direction as the train?

c

Should Australia become a republic?

9

Skye wants to gather information about how many people have had a dog as a pet. State whether the following questions will help her find this information:

a

Do you prefer Dalmatians or Labradors?

b

How many dogs have you owned?

c

Have you ever seen a dog before?

d

Do you have a pet?

Survery results
10

A sleep survey is completed by a group of 42 students where they indicate the number of hours they sleep. The results were summarised in the following table:

Number of sleeping hours<66789>9
Number of students4712946

Explain whether the following statements would describe the results of the survey:

a

The majority of people sleep for exactly 7 hours.

b

No one sleeps for less than 5 hours.

11

A survey asks the following two questions with the answers shown in the tables:

Question 1: Do you prefer reading, watching TV or gaming?

ReadingWatching TVGaming
Results232135

Question 2: Do you prefer studying, cleaning or exercising?

StudyingCleaningExercising
Results12859

Determine whether the following statements describe the results of the survey:

a

Students would rather exercise than clean.

b

Most students would rather be exercising than gaming.

c

Students exercise around seven times more than they clean.

d

Most students don't like watching TV.

12

A director wants to see what a small group of people think of their film. The audience is asked to give the film a star rating between 0 and 5. The results are shown in the given graph:

The median and mean are both 2.5 and the mode is 0.

Determine whether the following could be the conclusion that the director can make from the results:

a

The median was 2.5 so most people thought the movie was ok.

b

The mode was 0 so everyone disliked this film.

c

People were very divided by the movie.

d

The mean was 2.5 so most people thought the movie was ok.

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Outcomes

MA4-20SP

analyses single sets of data using measures of location, and range

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