Year 9 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 13

Univariate and Bivariate Analysis

Challenge Worksheet

Name
Date
Class

Learning Goals

Odd one out

Circle the item that does not belong in each group. Then explain why it doesn't fit in the answer column.

#GroupYour answer (odd one + reason)
1 Dot plot    Histogram    Scatter plot    Frequency table
2 What is the typical height?    How common is each eye colour?    Does height relate to arm span?    What is the median age?
3 Positive trend    Negative trend    No relationship    Proven cause
4 Two numerical variables    A point for each record    Look for a trend    Describe a single mode

Interpret the data

A student reports...

"I plotted ten students' daily screen time (hours) against their hours of sleep. The points fall clearly from the upper left to the lower right. Therefore I have proven that using screens makes people sleep less, and the school should ban phones."

(a) Is this univariate or bivariate analysis? Identify the two variables and explain how the student should describe the trend they found.

Challenge 3 marks

(b) The student claims to have "proven that screens make people sleep less". Explain why a trend on a scatter plot does not prove this, suggesting one other factor that could affect both variables.

Challenge 3 marks

(c) Design your own bivariate investigation that could realistically be run in your classroom. State the two variables you would measure, the display you would use, what a positive and a negative trend would each look like, and one univariate question you could also answer from the same data.

Challenge 4 marks

Wrap Up

In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?