What are the five stages of the statistical enquiry cycle, in order?

In order, the five stages are: Hypothesis & Planning Collecting Data Processing & Representing Data Interpreting Results Evaluating

True or False? 'Has the average age of brides increased since 2003?' is a suitable hypothesis for a statistical investigation.

False. A hypothesis has to be a statement that data can be tested against, not a question. A suitable version would be 'The average age of brides has increased since 2003'.

Why is the statistical enquiry process a cycle rather than a list of steps?

Because it is iterative : the stages are repeated, with improvements made each time. Once an investigation has been evaluated you go back to the planning stage and run it again, so there is no fixed beginning or end.

In the statistical enquiry cycle, what is the difference between the Interpreting Results stage and the Evaluating stage?

Interpreting Results is about what the data means: you explain the statistics and diagrams in context, draw conclusions about the hypothesis, and comment on how reliable the findings are. Evaluating is about the investigation itself: you identify weaknesses in how the data was collected or represented, and suggest improvements.

An investigation would give the best results with a sample of 5000 people, but there is only enough money for 200. Which constraint is this, and what should the plan do about it?

This is a cost constraint. You cannot always run the best possible investigation, so the plan should aim for the best investigation that can be afforded.

In planning an investigation, what is a proactive strategy, and name one problem worth planning for.

A proactive strategy is one decided at the planning stage, ahead of a problem appearing, rather than reacting once it has already happened. Problems worth planning for include difficulty identifying the population, people not answering some or all of the questions, and outcomes that were not expected.

Define primary data and secondary data .

Primary data is collected by the person who is going to use it, or specifically for them. Secondary data has been collected by somebody else, and its source must always be acknowledged.

What is the difference between discrete and continuous data, and which of the two are shoe sizes?

Continuous data can take any value on a scale, such as height or mass, while discrete data can only take particular values on that scale. Shoe sizes are discrete , even though they include half sizes: discrete does not have to mean whole numbers.

Ordinal data is categorical data whose categories can be put in order. Where the categories are words rather than numbers, a rating scale is used to order them, such as 1 for 'disagree strongly' up to 5 for 'agree strongly'.

What is the difference between bivariate and multivariate data?

Bivariate data is collected as pairs of values, such as the age of a car and its annual maintenance cost. Multivariate data is collected in sets of more than two values, such as cholesterol level, blood pressure and weight for each patient in a study.

True or False? Each set of data can be described by only one of the terms quantitative, qualitative, discrete and continuous.

False. More than one of these terms is usually appropriate for the same set of data. Hand span measured in centimetres is both quantitative and continuous , and the number of pets in each household is both quantitative and discrete .

Give one advantage and one disadvantage of using secondary data rather than collecting your own.

Advantage: it is much quicker, cheaper and easier to obtain than collecting the data yourself. Disadvantage: the source may not be reliable, and you may not know how the data was collected or how accurate it is.

What do you gain, and what do you lose, by putting a large data set into a grouped frequency table?

You gain a clearer view of the distribution , which makes patterns in the data much easier to spot. You lose the exact data values, so any mean, median or mode worked out from the table can only be an estimate .

An engineer is testing whether temperature affects how long a phone battery takes to charge. Which is the explanatory variable and which is the response variable?

Temperature is the explanatory variable, because it is the one the engineer controls or observes changing. Charging time is the response variable, because it is measured afterwards and is expected to respond to the change in temperature.

GCSEStatisticsEdexcelHigherFlashcardsThe Collection of DataPlanning & Types of Data

Planning & Types of Data (Edexcel GCSE Statistics: Higher): Flashcards

Exam code: 1ST0

1/19

0Still learning

Know0

FrontPlanning an Enquiry
What are the five stages of the statistical enquiry cycle, in order?
BackPlanning an Enquiry
In order, the five stages are:
Hypothesis & Planning
Collecting Data
Processing & Representing Data
Interpreting Results
Evaluating
BackPlanning an Enquiry
Sign up to unlock flashcards
Join for free to unlock a full flashcard set, track what you know,
and turn revision into real progress.

Was this flashcard helpful?

Cards in this collection (19)

What are the five stages of the statistical enquiry cycle, in order?
In order, the five stages are:
- Hypothesis & Planning
- Collecting Data
- Processing & Representing Data
- Interpreting Results
- Evaluating
True or False?
'Has the average age of brides increased since 2003?' is a suitable hypothesis for a statistical investigation.
False.
A hypothesis has to be a statement that data can be tested against, not a question.
A suitable version would be 'The average age of brides has increased since 2003'.
Why is the statistical enquiry process a cycle rather than a list of steps?
Because it is iterative: the stages are repeated, with improvements made each time.
Once an investigation has been evaluated you go back to the planning stage and run it again, so there is no fixed beginning or end.
Complete the statement about testing a hypothesis.
A hypothesis can only be tested through the appropriate $______$ and $______$ of data.
The completed statement is:
A hypothesis can only be tested through the appropriate collection and analysis of data.
In the statistical enquiry cycle, what is the difference between the Interpreting Results stage and the Evaluating stage?
Interpreting Results is about what the data means: you explain the statistics and diagrams in context, draw conclusions about the hypothesis, and comment on how reliable the findings are.
Evaluating is about the investigation itself: you identify weaknesses in how the data was collected or represented, and suggest improvements.
An investigation would give the best results with a sample of 5000 people, but there is only enough money for 200. Which constraint is this, and what should the plan do about it?
This is a cost constraint.
You cannot always run the best possible investigation, so the plan should aim for the best investigation that can be afforded.
In planning an investigation, what is a proactive strategy, and name one problem worth planning for.
A proactive strategy is one decided at the planning stage, ahead of a problem appearing, rather than reacting once it has already happened.
Problems worth planning for include difficulty identifying the population, people not answering some or all of the questions, and outcomes that were not expected.
Define primary data and secondary data.
Primary data is collected by the person who is going to use it, or specifically for them.
Secondary data has been collected by somebody else, and its source must always be acknowledged.
What is the difference between discrete and continuous data, and which of the two are shoe sizes?
Continuous data can take any value on a scale, such as height or mass, while discrete data can only take particular values on that scale.
Shoe sizes are discrete, even though they include half sizes: discrete does not have to mean whole numbers.
True or False?
Data that is recorded as numbers can still be categorical.
True.
Categorical data is any data that can be sorted into non-overlapping categories, and those categories are allowed to be numerical.
Engine sizes in cc are categorical, and so are heights split into the two groups $h < 1.7$ and $h \geq 1.7$ metres.
Define ordinal data.
Ordinal data is categorical data whose categories can be put in order.
Where the categories are words rather than numbers, a rating scale is used to order them, such as 1 for 'disagree strongly' up to 5 for 'agree strongly'.
What is the difference between bivariate and multivariate data?
Bivariate data is collected as pairs of values, such as the age of a car and its annual maintenance cost.
Multivariate data is collected in sets of more than two values, such as cholesterol level, blood pressure and weight for each patient in a study.
True or False?
Each set of data can be described by only one of the terms quantitative, qualitative, discrete and continuous.
False.
More than one of these terms is usually appropriate for the same set of data.
Hand span measured in centimetres is both quantitative and continuous, and the number of pets in each household is both quantitative and discrete.
Give one advantage and one disadvantage of using secondary data rather than collecting your own.
Advantage: it is much quicker, cheaper and easier to obtain than collecting the data yourself.
Disadvantage: the source may not be reliable, and you may not know how the data was collected or how accurate it is.
What do you gain, and what do you lose, by putting a large data set into a grouped frequency table?
You gain a clearer view of the distribution, which makes patterns in the data much easier to spot.
You lose the exact data values, so any mean, median or mode worked out from the table can only be an estimate.
Complete the rule for class intervals when grouping continuous data.
The class intervals must not $______$ one another, and there must be no $______$ between them.
The completed rule is:
The class intervals must not overlap one another, and there must be no gaps between them.
Every possible value then falls into exactly one class, as with $0 \leq x < 10$ and $10 \leq x < 20$ and so on.
Nut weights have been recorded to the nearest gram. Why would $10 \leq w < 13$ and $13 \leq w < 15$ be poor class intervals to use?
Because a nut recorded as 13 g could really weigh anything from 12.5 g up to 13.5 g, so it could belong in either class even though the intervals do not overlap.
The fix is to put the boundaries at the rounding points, using $9.5 \leq w < 12.5$ and $12.5 \leq w < 14.5$ instead.
An engineer is testing whether temperature affects how long a phone battery takes to charge. Which is the explanatory variable and which is the response variable?
Temperature is the explanatory variable, because it is the one the engineer controls or observes changing.
Charging time is the response variable, because it is measured afterwards and is expected to respond to the change in temperature.
Complete the rule for plotting a scatter diagram.
The $______$ variable always goes on the horizontal axis, and the $______$ variable always goes on the vertical axis.
The completed rule is:
The explanatory variable always goes on the horizontal axis, and the response variable always goes on the vertical axis.

Sign up to unlock flashcards

By signing up you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy

Next:Population, Sampling & Collecting Data