Practice identifying types of data, populations, samples, and common sampling methods.
Read each problem carefully. Show your work or explain your reasoning in the space provided.
Classifying data and choosing fair samples
Statistics - Grade 6-8
- 1
A school survey asks students to name their favorite lunch item. Is the data categorical or numerical? Explain your answer.
- 2
A coach records the number of laps each runner completes during practice. Is the data categorical or numerical? Explain your answer.
- 3
Classify the data as discrete or continuous: the number of pets in each student's home.
- 4
Classify the data as discrete or continuous: the height of each plant in a science experiment.
- 5
A principal wants to know how all 720 students at a school feel about starting classes later. She surveys 60 students. Identify the population and the sample.
- 6
A teacher puts every student's name in a box, mixes the names, and draws 10 names to answer a survey. What sampling method is being used?
- 7
A student asks the first 15 people who enter the cafeteria whether they like the new menu. What sampling method is this, and what is a possible problem with it?
- 8
A school has 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. A researcher randomly selects 20 students from each grade to answer a survey. What sampling method is being used?
- 9
A researcher has a list of 300 students and surveys every 10th student on the list. What sampling method is being used?
- 10
A city wants to study middle school students' after-school activities. The city randomly chooses 4 middle schools and surveys every student at those schools. What sampling method is being used?
- 11
A website asks visitors to click a button if they want to answer a survey about video games. Is this likely to be a random sample or a voluntary response sample? Explain.
- 12
A student wants to find the most popular sport at a middle school. Which plan is more likely to give a fair sample: survey only the basketball team, or randomly survey students from all grade levels? Explain your choice.