Lesson 2: Data Collection Activity

TIME FRAME:1 hour session

OVERVIEW OF LESSON
As we have learned in the previous lesson, Statistics is a science that studies data. Hence to teach
Statistics, real data set is recommend to use. In this lesson,we present an activity where the
students will be asked to provide some data that will be submitted for consolidation by the
teacher for future lessons. Data on heights and weights, for instance, will be used for calculating
Body Mass Index in the integrative lesson. Students will also be given the perspective that the
data they provided is part of a bigger group of data as the same data will be asked from much
larger groups (the entire class, all Grade 11 students in school, all Grade 11 students in the
district). The contextualization of data will also be discussed.

LEARNING COMPETENCIES: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

• Recognize the importance of providing correct information in a data collection activity;

• Understand the issue of confidentiality of information in a data collection activity;
• Participate in a data collection activity; and
• Contextualize data

LESSON OUTLINE:

1. Preliminaries in a Data Collection Activity

2. Performing a Data Collection Activity
3. Contextualization of Data

DEVELOPMENT OF THE LESSON

A. Preliminaries in a Data Collection Activity

Before the lesson, prepare a sheet of paper listing everyone’s name in class with a “Class
Student Number” (see Attachment A for the suggested format). The class student number is a
random number chosen in the following fashion:
(a) Make a box with “tickets” (small pieces of papers of equal sizes) listing the numbers 1 up to
the number of students in the class.
(b) Shake the box, get a ticket, and assign the number in the ticket to the first person in the list.
(c) Shake the box again, get another ticket, and assign the number of this ticket to the next
person in the list.
(d) Do (c) until you run out of tickets in the box.
At this point all the students have their corresponding class student number written across their
names in the prepared class list. Note that the preparation of the class list is done before the class
starts.
At the start of the class, inform each student confidentially of his/her class student number.
Perhaps, when the attendance is called, each student can be provided a separate piece of paper
that lists her/his name and class student number. Tell students to remember their class student
number, and to always use this throughout the semester whenever data are requested of them.
Explain to students that in data collection activity, specific identities like their names are not
required, especially because people have a right to confidentiality, but there should be a way to
develop and maintain a database to check quality of data provided, and verify from respondent in
a data collection activity the data that they provided (if necessary).
These preliminary steps for generating a class student number and informing students
confidentially of their class student number are essential for the data collection activities to be
performed in this lesson and other lessons so that students can be uniquely identified, without
having to obtain their names. Inform also the students that the class student numbers they were
given are meant to identify them without having to know their specific identities in the class
recording sheet (which will contain the consolidated records that everyone had provided). This
helps protect confidentiality of information.
In statistical activities, facts are collected from respondents for purposes of getting aggregate
information, but confidentiality should be protected. Mention that the agencies mandated to
collect data is bound by law to protect the confidentiality of information provided by
respondents. Even market research organizations in the private sector and individual researchers
also guard confidentiality as they merely want to obtain aggregate data. This way, respondents
can be truthful in giving information, and the researcher can give a commitment to respondents
that the data they provide will never be released to anyone in a form that will identify them
without their consent.
B. Performing a Data Collection Activity

Explain to the students that the purpose of this data collection activity is to gather data that they
could use for their future lessons in Statistics. It is important that they do provide the needed
information to the best of their knowledge. Also, before they respond to the questionnaire
provided in the Attachment B as Student Information Sheet (SIS), it is recommended that each
item in the SIS should be clarified. The following are suggested clarifications to make for each
item:

1. CLASS STUDENT NUMBER: This is the number that you provided confidentially to the
student at the start of the class.

2. SEX: This is the student’s biological sex and not their preferred gender. Hence, they have to
choose only one of the two choices by placing a check mark (√) at space provided before the
choices.
3. NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: This is the number of brothers and sisters that the student has in
their nuclear or immediate family. This number excludes him or her in the count. Thus, if the
student is the only child in the family then he/she will report zero as his/her number of
siblings.

4. WEIGHT (in kilograms): This refers to the student’s weight based on the student’s
knowledge. Note that the weight has to be reported in kilograms. In case the student knows
his/her weight in pounds, the value should be converted to kilograms by dividing the weight
in pounds by a conversion factor of 2.2 pounds per kilogram.

5. HEIGHT (in centimeters): This refers to the student’s height based on the student’s
knowledge. Note that the height has to be reported in centimeters. In case the student knows
his/her height in inches, the value should be converted to centimeters by multiplying the
height in inches by a conversion factor of 2.54 centimeters per inch.

6. AGE OF MOTHER (as of her last birthday in years): This refers to the age of the student’s
mother in years as of her last birthday, thus this number should be reported in whole number.
In case, the student’s mother is dead or nowhere to be found, ask the student to provide the
age as if the mother is alive or around.You could help the student in determining his/her
mother’s age based on other information that the student could provide like birth year of the
mother or student’s age. Note also that a zero value is not an acceptable value.

7. USUAL DAILY ALLOWANCE IN SCHOOL (in pesos): This refers to the usual amount in
pesos that the student is provided for when he/she goes to school in a weekday. Note that the
student can give zero as response for this item, in case he/she has no monetary allowance per
day.

8. USUAL DAILY FOOD EXPENDITURE IN SCHOOL (in pesos): This refers to the usual
amount in pesos that the student spends for food including drinks in school per day. Note that
the student can give zero as response for this item, in case he/she does not spend for food in
school.

9. USUAL NUMBER OF TEXT MESSAGES SENT IN A DAY: This refers to the usual
number of text messages that a student send in a day. Note that the student can give zero as
response for this item, in case he/she does not have the gadget to use to send a text message
or simply he/she does not send text messages.

10. MOST PREFERRED COLOR: The student is to choose a color that could be considered his
most preferred among the given choices. Note that the student could only choose one. Hence,
they have to place a check mark (√) at space provided before the color he/she considers as
his/her most preferred color among those given.

11. USUAL SLEEPING TIME: This refers to the usual sleeping time at night during a typical
weekday or school day. Note that the time is to be reported using the military way of
reporting the time or the 24-hour clock (0:00 to 23:59 are the possible values to use)
12. HAPPINESS INDEX FOR THE DAY : The student has to response on how he/she feels at
that time using codes from 1 to 10. Code 1 refers to the feeling that the student is very
unhappy while Code 10 refers to a feeling that the student is very happy on the day when the
data are being collected.

After the clarification, the students are provided at most 10 minutes to respond to the
questionnaire. Ask the students to submit the completed SIS so that you could consolidate the
data gathered using a formatted worksheet file provided to you as Attachment C. Having the data
in electronic file makes it easier for you to use it in the future lessons. Be sure that the students
provided the information in all items in the SIS.
Inform the students that you are to compile all their responses and compiling all these records
from everyone in the class is an example of a census since data has been gathered from every
student in class. Mention that the government, through the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA),
conducts censuses to obtain information about socio-demographic characteristics of the residents
of the country. Census data are used by the government to make plans, such as how many
schools and hospitals to build. Censuses of population and housing are conducted every 10 years
on years ending in zero (e.g., 1990, 2000, 2010) to obtain population counts, and demographic
information about all Filipinos. Mid-decade population censuses have also been conducted since
1995. Censuses of Agriculture, and of Philippine Business and Industry, are also conducted by
the PSA to obtain information on production and other relevant economic information.
PSA is the government agency mandated to conduct censuses and surveys. Through Republic
Act 10625 (also referred to as The Philippine Statistical Act of 2013), PSA was created from four
former government statistical agencies, namely: National Statistics Office (NSO), National
Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), Bureau of Labor and Employment of Statistics (BLES)
and Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS). The other agency created through RA 10625 is the
Philippine Statistical Research and Training Institute (PSRTI) which is mandated as the research
and training arm of the Philippine Statistical System. PSRTI was created from its forerunner the
former Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC).

C. Contextualization of Data
Ask students what comes to their minds when they hear the term “data” (which may be viewed
as a collection of facts from experiments, observations, sample surveys and censuses, and
administrative reporting systems).
Present to the student the following collection of numbers, figures, symbols, and words, and ask
them if they could consider the collection as data.
3, red, F, 156, 4, 65, 50, 25, 1, M, 9, 40, 68, blue, 78, 168, 69, 3, F, 6, 9, 45, 50, 20,
200, white, 2, pink, 160, 5, 60, 100, 15, 9, 8, 41, 65, black, 68, 165, 59, 7, 6, 35, 45,
Although the collection is composed of numbers and symbols that could be classified as numeric
or non-numeric, the collection has no meaning or it is not contextualized, hence it cannot be
referred to as data.
Tell the students that data are facts and figures that are presented, collected and analyzed.
Data are either numeric or non-numeric and must be contextualized. To contextualize data,
we must identify its six W’s or to put meaning on the data, we must know the following W’s of
the data:
1. Who? Who provided the data?

2. What? What are the information from the respondents and What is the unit of measurement
used for each of the information (if there are any)?

3. When? When was the data collected?

4. Where? Where was the data collected?

5. Why? Why was the data collected?

6. HoW? HoW was the data collected?

Let us take as an illustration the data that you have just collected from the students, and let us put
meaning or contextualize it by responding to the questions with the Ws. It is recommended that
the students answer theW-questions so that they will learn how to do it.
1. Who? Who provided the data?

• The students in this class provided the data.

2. What? What are the information from the respondents and What is the unit of measurement
used for each of the information (if there are any)?

• The information gathered include Class Student Number, Sex, Number of Siblings,
Weight, Height, Age of Mother, Usual Daily Allowance in School, Usual Daily Food
Expenditure in School, Usual Number of Text Messages Sent in a Day, Most Preferred
Color, Usual Sleeping Time and Happiness Index for the Day.

• The units of measurement for the information on Number of Siblings, Weight, Height,
Age of Mother, Usual Daily Allowance in School, Usual Daily Food Expenditure in
School, and Usual Number of Text Messages Sent in a Day are person, kilogram,
centimeter, year, pesos, pesos and message, respectively.

3. When? When was the data collected?

• The data was collected on the first few days of classes for Statistics and Probability.
4. Where? Where was the data collected?

• The data was collected inside our classroom.

5. Why? Why was the data collected?

• As explained earlier, the data will be used in our future lessons in Statistics and Probability

6. HoW? HoW was the data collected?

• The students provided the data by responding to the Student Information Sheet
prepared and distributed by the teacher for the data collection activity.

Once the data are contextualized, there is now meaning to the collection of number and symbols
which may now look like the following which is just a small part of the data collected in the
earlier activity.
Number Usual Usual daily Usual
of Age of daily food number
Class Sex Height Most Usual Happiness
siblings Weight mother allowance expenditure of text
Student (in Preferred Sleeping Index for
(in (in kg) (in in school in school messages
Number cm) Color Time the Day
person) years) (in pesos) (in pesos) sent in a
day
1 M 2 60 156 60 200 150 20 RED 23:00 8
2 F 5 63 160 66 300 200 25 PINK 22:00 9
3 F 3 65 165 59 250 50 15 BLUE 20:00 7
4 M 1 55 160 55 200 100 30 BLACK 19:00 6
5 M 0 65 167 45 350 300 35 BLUE 20:00 8
: : : : : : : : : : : :
: : : : : : : : : : : :

KEY POINTS

• Providing correct information in a government data collection activity is a

responsibility of every citizen in the country.
• Data confidentiality is important in a data collection activity.
• Census is collecting data from all possible respondents.
• Data to be collected must be clarified before the actual data collection.
• Data must be contextualized by answering six W-questions.