Survey Questions

This lesson can be used for revision for the higher Maths GCSE. The examples are quick and concise with exam style questions, go to GCSE Maths if you need more in-depth explanations.


How to answer survey questions in the GCSE exam?
There are two main types of survey questions.
1. Design a data collection sheet.
This involves designing a tally chart.

2. Design a questionnaire or detect the errors in a given questionnaire.
Watch out for these problems in a questionnaire.
(a) Time frame not specified.
(b) The categories are overlapping.
(c) No option given.

Example 1: Gary wants to find out how much time teenagers spend listening to music. He uses this question on his questionnaire.
(a) Write down two things wrong with this question.
(b) Design a better question for Gary's questionnaire to find out how much time teenagers spend listening to music.
(c) Gary gave this survey to teenagers coming out of a CD store. Why might this give a biased sample?

Example 2: Sam wants to find out the types of film people like best.
He is going to ask whether they like comedy films or action films or science fiction films or musicals best.
(a) Design a suitable table for a data collection sheet he could use to collect this information.
Sam collects his data by asking in his class at school. This might not be a good way to find out the types of film people like best.
(b) Give one reason why.

Example 3: Pradeep wants to find out how much time people spend playing sport. He uses this question on a questionnaire.
(a) Write down two things wrong with this question.
(b) Design a better question for Pradeep's questionnaire to find out how much time people spend playing sport.

Example 4: Guy wants to find out how much time people spend watching television. He will design a questionnaire. Design a suitable question for Guy's questionnaire.

Example 5: Paula wants to find out how much money people spend buying CDs. She uses this question on her questionnaire.
(a) Write down two things wrong with this question.
Paula asks 100 people in a CD store to do her questionnaire.
(b) Her sample is biased. Explain why.

Example 6: Mason is doing a survey to find out how many magazines people buy. He uses this question on a questionnaire.
(a) Write down two things wrong with this question.
(b) Write a better question for Mason to use on his questionnaire to find out how many magazines people buy.
Mason asks his friends at school to do his questionnaire. This may not be a good sample to use.
(c) Give one reason why.

Example 7: Julia is investigating how much exercise people do in a week. She uses two questions in a questionnaire.
(a) Write one thing wrong with each of these questions.
Julia wants to know how much time people spend exercising.
(b) Design a question Julia could use in her questionnaire. Go to next lesson