Statistical investigation types

Task goals

• Name and describe each of the four investigation types: summary, comparison, relationship, and time-series.
• Classify a given statistical question or scenario by its investigation type, and justify the classification.
• Match each investigation type to the graph or display best suited to it (dot plot or bar graph for summary, side-by-side dot plots or box-and-whisker plots for comparison, scatter plot for relationship, time-series line graph for time-series).
• Write a valid investigative question of a specified type for a given context.
• Recognise that a real investigation can combine more than one type (e.g. tracking two groups over time combines time-series and comparison), and explain how this affects the display chosen.