Spencer Speziale Period 5

Mr. Gaccione April 7th,

2017
Sample Survey Project

A) Purpose:

I want to study whether it is possible to word a question in two

different ways that are logically equivalent but have much different
responses. Specifically, I want to study what shoe size my population
(Ramapo male students) wears, and whether the students can have a
higher IQ with smaller sizes, because they are embarrassed by how big
or small there shoe size is.

My questions are:
1. People with high IQs tend to have small feet, what is your shoe size?
2. What size shoe are you?

B) Sample:

I surveyed 30 students for each of the above questions. I chose my

sample of students from the cafeteria, because all students in Ramapo
have a lunch period. This would give me an idea of the responses of
my population, which is all of Ramapo High School. However, I tried to
get a random sample by surveying students sitting at lunch tables, not
only students waiting on line for food, so that I got a fair mix of
students. I only surveyed males since they would all fall under the
same size levels unlike females sizes transfer to different mens sizing.
I also surveyed students from different grades and backgrounds,
hoping to get a fair mix of age and shoe sizes.
C) The Survey:

People with high IQs tend to People with high IQs tend to have
have small feet, what is your small feet, what is your shoe size?
shoe size?

People with high IQs tend to People with high IQs tend to have
have small feet, what is your small feet, what is your shoe size?
shoe size?

People with high IQs tend to People with high IQs tend to have
have small feet, what is your small feet, what is your shoe size?
shoe size?

What size shoe are you? What size shoe are you?

What size shoe are you? What size shoe are you?

What size shoe are you? What size shoe are you?

D) The Data:

1.) What size shoe are you?

11 10 12 12 10 9 8 13 10 11
14 8 10 10 12 12 11 11 10 11
10 9 10 12 13 12 10 9 10 13

Frequency Table:

Shoe Number Frequen

Size of cy
People
7 0 0
8 2 2
9 3 3
10 10 10
11 5 5
12 6 6
13 3 3
14 1 1

Histogram:

Shape: Positive Skewed

Mean: 10.76666

Standard Deviation: 1.4761

5-Number Summary:
MinX= 8
Q1=10
Med= 10.5
Q3= 12
MaxX= 14

Which measure best represents the center of the distribution?

Many male students at Ramapo High School had a very big range of
shoe sizes as my answers varied throughout the survey.

E) The Data:

People with high IQs tend to have small feet, what is your shoe size?

11 11 12 8 9 10 7 9 9 13
11 14 12 10 7 8 10 12 8 9
13 10 11 11 11 10 12 9 10 13

Frequency Table:
Shoe Number Frequen
Size of cy
People
7 2 2
8 3 3
9 5 5
10 6 6
11 6 6
12 4 4
13 3 3
14 1 1
Histogram:

Shape: Symmetric Distribution

Mean: 10.333

Standard Deviation: 1.795

5-Number Summary:
MinX=7
Q1=9
Med=10
Q3=12
MaxX=14

Which measure best represents the center of the distribution?

Many students have different shoe sizes but many of them wear
between a size 10 or 11.

Conclusions:
Results: Were you able to affect the results of your survey
using a biased question?
Yes, many people answered differently when I handed them the biased
question since they wanted to feel smarter with a higher IQ when they
read the question.
Is it possible to word a question in two different ways that are
logically equivalent but have much different responses?
The population for my survey was grades 9-12 and I used the cluster
method. To make sure it was random, I used answers from many
different students in different lunch periods and grade levels. The
majority of students who were tall wore a bigger shoe size, and the
majority of short people I surveyed had smaller shoe sizes compared to
people who were taller than them. The answer that I found to this
question was that if a student is very tall, they are less likely to wear a
smaller size shoe.

Which was a better estimate of the center of the data in

each of your questions mean or median? Why was one better
than the other?
The mean was the better estimate of the center of the data in each
question since it gave me the best possible answer towards the
number that was the center of all my results and answers.

Possible sources of error/bias:

Some possible ways I could have run into an error is if people lied
about their real shoe size once they read my bias question.

What was the effect of possible bias on the survey results?

A result of bias answers could have made my center of data in the
small size range since my question said many people with small sizes
have higher IQs therefore people would lower there answer to feel like
they were one of those people with a high IQ.

F) Summary:
In all this survey helped a lot as it gave me a mixed range of answers
to keep as my data. I wanted to study whether it is possible to word a
question in two different ways that are logically equivalent but have
much different responses. Specifically, I wanted to study what shoe
size my population (Ramapo male students) wears, and whether the
students can have a higher IQ with smaller sizes, because they are
embarrassed by how big or small there shoe size is. I learned that
when asking people the unbiased question vs. the bias question my
results were constantly changing.