GCSE Statistics case studies
GCSE Statistics · Put your knowledge to work in context.
GCSE Statistics (8382) is a UK general qualification offered by AQA, one of the awarding bodies that sets GCSE and A-level examinations in England. It is designed for students who want to build a working understanding of how data is gathered, organised, presented and interpreted, rather than for those seeking a purely mathematical route. The GCSE Statistics case studies are 5 cases and about 3,211 words.
1Choosing a sample and writing a questionnaire in a sixth form
A sixth form has 240 students: 140 in Year 12 and 100 in Year 13. A student wants to estimate the mean number of minutes of homework done per night by the whole sixth form.
748 words, about 4 min2Comparing two minor-injury units: which average and which spread?
A hospital trust compares waiting times (in minutes) for 11 patients at each of two minor-injury units, sampled during the same week. Unit A: 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 95 Unit B: 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 A manager writes in a report: 'The mean wait at Unit A is 24.7 minutes and at Unit B is 25.9 minutes, so patients wait longer at B.' A nurse at Unit A replies that the report hides the real story.
657 words, about 3 min3Interpreting r and a line of best fit in a revision study
A maths department records, for 14 of its students, the hours of revision done in the week before a test (x) and the test score out of 100 (y). The values of x range from 1 hour to 9 hours.
678 words, about 3 min4Seasonal ice-cream sales and a badly made forecast
An ice-cream kiosk records its quarterly sales, in hundreds of ice creams, over four years. Year 1: 17, 35, 52, 28 Year 2: 25, 43, 60, 36 Year 3: 33, 51, 68, 44 Year 4: 41, 59, 76, 52 The new manager says: 'In Year 4 we sold 41 in the first quarter and 76 in the third - demand nearly doubled in six months and is out of control.
535 words, about 3 min5A screening test, base rates and a misleading leaflet
A town clinic offers a screening test for a condition that affects 2% of the 5,000 people who take the test. The test gives a positive result for 90% of people who have the condition.
593 words, about 3 min