Coming Up With a Question
People normally collect data about something that has made them curious.
Likewise, students should be given opportunities to collect data about things they are
interested in knowing about.
They might want to know about other students’ favourite colours or activities. They might
want to know how their classmates feel about some potential activities at school. They
might want to know whether there are more people or objects that have a certain
characteristic (e.g., brown eyes) than another (e.g., any other eye colour).
Sometimes you have to ask a question to collect data (e.g., What is your favourite song?).
But sometimes you can just look at the people or objects to collect data and find the answer
to your question (e.g., Count how many people are wearing white).
Asking an Appropriate Question
When asking a question in a survey, it helps to make the question as simple and direct as
possible. This usually makes it easier to collect a set of data that is accurate and simple to
keep track of.
For example, to find out about favourite animals, it might be better to give people a choice
among a few animals, rather than just asking for favourites. Otherwise, it would be hard to
keep track of all the possible answers.
In Grade 1, students asked mostly questions that could be answered by “yes” or “no”; in
Grade 2, they may ask questions that have a few more possible responses.
Keeping Track of Collected Data
Students might use tally marks in different categories to keep track of possible answers, or
they might simply put a stick in one pile or another depending on the answers they get to
a question.
It is much easier to keep track of answers to a question such as “Would you
like to join a soccer team?” than a question such as “How much do you like playing sports?”
Helping Your Child
Share with your child questions that are coming up in your community or the media.
For example,
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Do you think we need to lower the speed limit on this street?
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Do you think that the swimming pool should be opened for more hours?
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Should older kids be allowed on the swings or should just younger kids be allowed?
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Talk with your child about how that kind of information is collected.
Definitions
data: facts or information
survey: a record of observations gathered by asking questions or interviewing people
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