Numerical data

Using numerical data as evidence in your Inquiry is an important skill to develop. There are many possible sources of numerical data including surveys and measurements. Better analysis requires you to process data. Here are some options:

• displaying in a table

• graphing (line, column, pie)

• summary statistics (average, percentage, per capita, median, inter quartile range)

Table vs Graph

Also consider the format you display your numerical data. Two common ways are tables and graphs. Check out the examples below. Same data - different ways of communicating it. Which is easier to understand and draw inferences (meaning) from?

The importance of ratio

One important concept in analysing numerical data is ‘per capita’. Take the example of greenhouse gas emissions. The NZ Herald has reported in terms of gross emissions we are the fifth highest per capita among 40 developed countries.

Writing a paragraph based on numerical data

OSEM as a structure to analyse, describe and comment on graphs. ‘Obvious, Specific, Evidence, Meaning’.  Check out the video.

Sources for your numerical data section

1. Figure.NZ: easy to search database for graphs and tables on NZ statistics

2. CensusAtSchool: based on an annual survey given to NZ students.

3. World in Data: Has graphs and data for over 300 topics

4. Information is beautiful: data visualisations on a range of topics

5. Worldometer: a range of statistics on global topics

6. Data.govt.nz: A number of different NZ data sets

7. Statistics NZ: Has the NZ Census data in an easily accessible form

8. Dataset by Google: a searchable set of datasets available on the web

9. Arc GIS in NZ Schools: a huge searchable range of data sets displayed on maps.