Data Collection and Sampling Methods — AQA GCSE Practice Question 17.3

How to approach this question

Think about how you would feel if a stranger asked you this question. - Is it a comfortable question to answer? (Sensitivity) - Is the question specific enough? What does "earn" mean? Per hour, week, year? (Ambiguity) - Would a different format be better? (e.g., response boxes with income bands).

Full Answer

The question is too personal/sensitive, and people may be unwilling to give an honest answer or may refuse to answer at all. It also lacks a time frame (e.g., per week, month, or year).

There are two main problems with this question: 1. **It is too personal/sensitive:** Many people consider their income to be private information and would be reluctant to disclose the exact amount to a researcher. This could lead to a high non-response rate or people giving inaccurate answers. 2. **It is ambiguous:** The question does not specify a time frame. "How much do you earn?" could be interpreted as per hour, per week, per month, or per year. This ambiguity means the data collected would be inconsistent and unusable. A better approach would be to use anonymous response boxes with income bands, for example: "[ ] Under £10,000 per year", "[ ] £10,000 - £29,999 per year", etc.

Common mistakes

✗ Suggesting a problem that isn't relevant, like "it's a leading question".\n✗ Providing a weak answer like "it's a bad question".

Here is an open question from Tom's study: "How much do you earn? £____". Write down a problem with this question.

How to approach this question

Full Answer

Common mistakes

Practice the full AQA GCSE Statistics Foundation Tier Paper 2

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