Statistical Investigation

TASK 1: Establishing a focus.

1. Create a mind map showing the different areas and links for the context MARINE LIFE.
2. You need to include both positive and negative effects, impacts and causes.
3. Think about headings such as people, industry, technology, environment.
4. Use key words as headings and then describe as many factors as you can for each.

TASK 2: Creating good questions

• Create a set of 8 questions that you used to investigate these areas.
• Make sure each questions is specific
• Think about how you could measure this question in numbers
• E.g the impact of pollution could be measured by looking at water quality standards, taking samples of the land, mineral content of soil etc
• Check the information on the FFL Website Statistics information

TASK 3: Data collection

1. Choose one question from Task 2
1. Find the difference between  a closed question and an open question
2. Data collection needs to be not just asking closed questions.
3. Create a list of things you can measure that would help provide evidence or information about the chosen question.
4. What other samples could you collect?

Task 4: Plan an investigation  THINK & PLAN

• What information could you collect?
• Samples: Data, environmental samples
• What resources could be useful?
• Who could help? Ask, find, contact and research.
• How will I measure these things?
• What can I experiment with? Test?

If you have time start writing up an investigation process:

• Investigation question
• Hypothesis / prediction
• Data
• Survey
• Scientific testing
• mathematical testing

Multivariate Cycle

Problem

Pose two investigative questions about countries that can be explored using the supplied dataset.

Your investigative questions must be comparison questions. A suitable comparison investigative question is one that reflects the population, has a clear variable to investigate, compares the values of a continuous variable across different categories, and can be answered with the data.

For each question, state the variable you are investigating and the groups you are comparing.

Now choose one of your two questions for investigation using the data.

Plan and data

Because the data was selected using a random sampling technique, the sample can be considered representative of the entire population. State the population that the sample has come from.

Analysis

Draw at least two appropriate graphs that show different features of the data in relation to your investigative question.

Give appropriate summary statistics.

Describe features of the distributions comparatively (for example, shape, middle 50%, shift, overlap, spread, unusual or interesting features).

Conclusion

Write a conclusion summarising your findings. The conclusion needs to include an informal inference in response to your investigative question and to be supported with relevant evidence.