standard_description: Recognize a statistical question as one that anticipates variability in the data related to the question and accounts for it in the answers. For example, “How old am I?” is not a statistical question, but “How old are the students in my school?” is a statistical question because one anticipates variability in students’ ages.
problem_activity: Activity
In the previous lesson, students learned that it is very difficult to select representative samples when the population data is unknown. In this lesson, students learn that often the best we can do to select a representative sample is to avoid sampling methods that will be inherently biased one way or another (MP7). A randomly selected sample is not guaranteed to be representative of the population, but other methods are often biased and thus tend to produce samples that are not representative of the population.
Launch
Arrange students in groups of 2. Give students 5 minutes of partner work time followed by a whole-class discussion.
Action and Expression: Internalize Executive Functions.
Chunk this task into more manageable parts. After students have solved the first 2-3 problems, check-in with either select groups of students or the whole class. Invite students to share the strategies they have used so far as well as any questions they have before continuing.
Supports accessibility for: Organization; Attention
Student Facing
Take turns with your partner reading each option aloud. For each situation, discuss:
Would the different methods for selecting a sample lead to different conclusions about the population?
What are the benefits of each method?
What might each method overlook?
Which of the methods listed would be the most likely to produce samples that are representative of the population being studied?
Can you think of a better way to select a sample for this situation?
Lin is running in an election to be president of the seventh grade. She wants to predict her chances of winning. She has the following ideas for surveying a sample of the students who will be voting:
Ask everyone on her basketball team who they are voting for.
Ask every third girl waiting in the lunch line who they are voting for.
Ask the first 15 students to arrive at school one morning who they are voting for.
A nutritionist wants to collect data on how much caffeine the average American drinks per day. She has the following ideas for how she could obtain a sample:
Ask the first 20 adults who arrive at a grocery store after 10:00 a.m. about the average amount of caffeine they consume each day.
Every 30 minutes, ask the first adult who comes into a coffee shop about the average amount of caffeine they consume each day.
Student Response
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Activity Synthesis
The purpose of the discussion is for students to understand that some methods of sampling are better than others. Although there may be no way to guarantee that a sample is representative of the population, we can certainly avoid methods that will definitely result in some groups being over- or under-represented.
Poll the class on which of the given methods is best for each scenario. Record these answers for all to see.
Select several students to explain benefits and drawbacks of each of the sampling methods. After each method has been analyzed for a situation, ask if students have ideas for better ways to get a representative sample for the situation.
Ask students, “What are some important things to consider when getting a sample?” (Is there a group that this method will show preference for? Is there a group that will automatically be left out of my sample based on the method? If there are groups I didn’t even think about, does my method have a way of reaching them?)
Explain: People often have biases that may lead them to over- or under-represent some groups in their samples whether the biases are obvious or not. For example, if you want to send a survey out for people to respond to questions, you may not reach people who do not have email addresses. Due to the (sometimes hidden) biases, the best method for selecting samples is to remove as much of the personal selection as possible. In the rest of this lesson, we will explore methods for generating samples that avoid biases.


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