Information for teachersThis PowerPoint presentation gives examples

of responses for the Conclusion section of the report.

Students own answers will differ based on their choice of investigative question.

This PowerPoint is editable so can be changed to suit the wording you choose to use with your class.

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AS 1.10 Maths and statistics Driven to distraction- Conclusion section

Writing conclusions You need to start by answering the question you

posed about the population. Supporting evidence must be provided from your sample statistics, graphs and/or summary statements.

You can then consider several other points: ◦ What would happen if you repeated the sampling

process?◦ How reasonable do you think your results are

based on your knowledge of the context and population?

◦ Who may be interested in your results and why?◦ What other comparison questions has this

investigation generated and what data would be required to answer these questions?

Answer your question about the original population, providing supporting evidence.

e.g.1The students at Te Horo High School in 2014 who are tired do tend to have slower (longer) reaction times than the students who are not tired.

This claim is based on the fact that in the sample the median for the tired students’ reaction times is longer than the middle 50% of reactions times for the students who aren’t tired. This evidence is sufficient to suggest that what I see in my samples is what is happening back in the population (students at Te Horo High School in 2014).

e.g.2Students from Te Horo High School in 2014 who were texting do tend to have a lower level of accuracy in typing tests than those students from Te Horo High School in 2014 who were not texting when they took the test.

This claim is based on the fact that in the sample the median for the students’ accuracy levels who are reading a text message is less than the middle 50% of accuracy levels for the students who aren’t reading a text message. This evidence is sufficient to suggest that what I see in my samples is what is happening back in the population (students at Te Horo High School in 2014).

Comment on how reasonable you think your results are based on your knowledge of the context and population.e.g.

◦ The claim about reaction times for those who are tired being longer than those who were not tired makes sense based on my experience playing computer games. When I’m tired, like late at night, I tend to not do as well as I don’t react as quickly during games.

Comment on how reasonable you think your results are based on your knowledge of the context and population.e.g.2

◦ The claim about accuracy in typing makes sense as it would be difficult to concentrate on typing accurately and reading texts at the same time. This also makes sense as texting was identified in the article read by the Year 11 class of Te Horo High School students as something which impacted on driving ability as it makes it difficult to concentrate on driving and it is something which is banned when driving.

Describe what you would expect to see if you repeated the sampling process.

This needs to address two points:◦ Sampling variability (differences in the

sample statistics and graphs)◦ Whether you would be able to make the

same claim and why.

Describe what you would expect to see if you repeated the sampling process.e.g.

◦ If I was to repeat this sampling process with a new sample from Te Horo High School in 2014, I would expect there to be some differences in the sample statistics and graphs due to sampling variability. Even so, I would expect to see reactions times for those who were reading a text message tending to be longer than those who were not reading a text message, as the distance between the medians in my original sample is sufficiently large, with the median reaction time for students reading a text message being 458 ms, which is 158 ms higher than the upper quartile for those not reading a text message. So I would not expect my claim to change.

Describe who may be interested in your conclusion and why.e.g.

◦ Those learning to drive may be interested in these results as it helps them to understand why texting when driving isn’t a good idea. If texting means that the reaction times tend to be slower, then this is going to affect how you respond to hazards when driving.

◦ Organisations interested in road safety (e.g. NZ Transport Agency, Ministry of Transport, MPs, Police) may be interested in these reaction time results. Teenagers are the group of people most likely to be learning to drive so things that affect their reaction time would be of interest to these groups.

Describe who may be interested in your conclusion and why.e.g.2 ◦ NZ Transport Agency might be interested

in these results about typing test accuracy because it would provide them with information on the how being tired affects concentration and therefore accuracy when driving. It would allow them to come up with campaigns to promote driver safety, such as ones about not driving when you’re really tired.

What other questions has this investigation generated. Write another question that you could explore as a result of your investigation and describe what data would need to be collected in order to answer these questions.

◦These need to be meaningful questions that would lead to a meaningful investigation.◦They should include variables that are not already provided in the original dataset.◦Enough detail needs to be provided that someone could plan an investigation based on what you have described.

E.g.◦ A further investigation would be to look at the impact

that other distractions, such as eating food, has on reaction times. I have suggested this as a I saw an article online that said eating was a big distraction when driving. This would then be of interest to those learning to drive.e.g. Do reaction times for NZ students who are eating tend to be longer than for NZ students who are not eating?

◦ In order to answer this question I would need to collect data on reaction times when eating. It would be too difficult to get a random sample of all NZ students so I might need to use a smaller population. I could use people in Year 11 at my school to collect this data, using an online reaction test. I would need a random sample of at least 30 students who were eating and 30 students who were not eating.