Seminar focus: decide whether a plan deserves trust
Ākonga deliberate over competing sampling and survey plans for the same question. They must identify who may be excluded, how bias could enter, and which data-care condition is non-negotiable.
- Seminar move: Ethical scenario cards and evidence-to-decision speaking frame
- Seminar outcome: A justified judgement about the most trustworthy plan
🎯 Learning Intentions
- Understand different data collection methods (survey, experiment, observation)
- Design clear survey questions to avoid bias
- Plan for ethical data collection
🎥 Media Anchor (8 mins)
Video: Research Skills for Students
- Which data collection method best matches your investigation question?
- How will your plan improve reliability and fairness of results?
1. Discussion: How do we get answers? (10 mins)
Brainstorm ways to get data:
- Survey: Asking people questions (e.g., opinions, habits)
- Observation: Watching and counting (e.g., cars passing by, birds in garden)
- Experiment: Testing something (e.g., how far paper planes fly)
- Existing Data: Using internet research (e.g., Stats NZ data)
2. Concept: Bias and Fairness (15 mins)
What is bias? When data doesn't tell the whole truth.
- Question Bias: "Don't you agree that rugby is the best?" (Leading question)
- Sampling Bias: Asking only your friends about school issues.
Activity: "Fix the Bias." Students correct biased survey questions.
3. Task: Design Your Plan (20 mins)
Students create a plan for their investigation:
- Question: (Using I-V-G from Lesson 2)
- Method: Survey? Observation? Experiment?
- Tools: Paper survey? Google Form? Tally chart?
- Who/What: Who will you ask? Where will you observe?
4. Ethics Check (5 mins)
Is your plan creating harm?
- Permission: Do people know you are collecting data?
- Privacy: Are you asking overly personal questions?
- Respect: Are you being culturally safe?
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
The class debates sampling on one shared scenario, including who a method silently excludes.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can explain how a sampling method could bias a result.
- ✅ I can argue for one method over another using stated criteria.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: One shared scenario with the sampling frame supplied, so debate focuses on consequences. Extension: cost two methods against accuracy.
ELL / ESOL: Teach 'bias', 'representative', 'frame' as things you can point to in the scenario.
Inclusion: Ākonga who find open debate hard can be assigned the sceptic role with a written brief.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Who is counted, and who is left out of a count, is not a technical detail — it is the whole basis on which a community can act on the result.
Prior knowledge: Students should have basic familiarity with data displays (bar graphs, dot plots). No prior statistical investigation experience required — the PPDAC inquiry cycle provides accessible scaffolding for first-time investigators.
Curriculum alignment
This lesson develops the Level 4 statistical-investigation objective through a real stage of the PPDAC cycle. See the unit curriculum companion for the exact source statement and lesson-to-evidence map.