Chapter 10 - Misleading Graphs & Statistics

Survey

A question or a set of questions designed to collect data about a specific group of people or population

Question Bias

A question that encourages a particular response; a biased question is a question worded in such a way that a particular answer is favored over others

Sample

A randomly selected group chosen for the purpose of collecting data

Biased Sample

A sample drawn in such a way that one or more parts of the population are favored over others

Unbiased Sample

A sample representative of the entire population

Convenience Sample

A sample which consists of members of a population that are easily accessed

Simple Random Sample

An unbiased sample where each item or person in the population is as likely to be chosen as any other

Misleading Graphs

Bar graphs, pie charts, pictographs, and other visual representations that exaggerate or understate the true nature of data

Data

Observations that have been collected

Population

The entire collection of items that is the focus of concern.

Sample size

The number of people used for a particular survey

Statistics

The study of collecting, organizing, representing, and interpreting data

Dot plot

a graph that shows the frequency of data along a number line

Bar graph

a graph that uses horizontal or vertical bars to display countable data

Line graph

a graph that uses line segments to show how data changes over time

Outlier

a value much higher or much lower than the others values in a data set; can give a misleading impression of the data

Frequency

the number of times an event occurs