A good question gets answers you can compare
You want to know how 12 classmates get to school. What do you ask?
In a tally, equal answers go in one pile.
- Ask: "How do you come to school?" Three piles: 7, 4 and 1.
- Ask: "Tell us about your morning." Twelve different answers.
- That makes 12 piles of one. Nothing to compare.
Ask: "How do you come to school?" The answers fall into a few piles you can count.
The rule
A good question gets answers you can put side by side. Answers in many different forms cannot be compared.
A survey asks the same question of many people. Each answer is one row in your table.
The trap: different forms
A unit names what a number is measured in, like minutes.
Ask "How long is your trip?" and you get these answers.
| Who | What they said |
|---|---|
| Student A | 8 minutes |
| Student B | eight minutes |
| Student C | 8 minutes |
| Student D | not far at all |
The question named no unit, so answers differ in form.
Students A and B both take 8 minutes. The tally still puts them in two piles, because the words differ. Fix it: ask for the minutes from home to the gate.
Tap a verdict for each question. Look at the piles.
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