The Statistical Enquiry Cycle - All Five Stages
Follow a statistical investigation through all five stages of the enquiry cycle, from the first question to the final review, and learn the key terms along the way.
Revise this, the fun way
Play it interactively, earn XP and build a streak, free.
Start revising freeWhat you'll cover
The statistical enquiry cycle 📊
Statisticians do not just crunch numbers. They follow a clear process called the **statistical enquiry cycle**, or SEC. It has **five stages**, and it is a **cycle**, so after evaluating you can go back and improve. This module walks through all five stages, from the first question to the final review.
The five stages 🔑
Every statistical investigation moves through these five stages, in order:
Primary or secondary? ⚖️
In the collecting stage, data comes from one of two kinds of source:
Match the stage to its activity 🔗
- Planning
- Collecting data
- Processing and presenting
- Interpreting
- Deciding the question and what data to collect
- Gathering the data from a source
- Drawing diagrams and calculating statistics
- Analysing the results and reaching a conclusion
Which stage? 🔍
In which stage do you draw diagrams and calculate statistics?
- Processing and presenting
- Planning
- Collecting data
- Evaluating
Words you need 🔤
A few terms come up throughout the cycle. A **hypothesis** is a statement you set out to test, such as taller people have longer arms. **Reliability** is how much you can trust the findings, and results are more reliable from a larger, fairer sample. An **inference** is a conclusion or prediction you draw from the data.
Match the term to its meaning 🔀
- Hypothesis
- Primary data
- Secondary data
- Reliability
- A statement you set out to test
- Data you collect yourself, first-hand
- Data collected by someone else
- How much you can trust the findings
In the planning stage? ✅
Select the TWO things you do in the PLANNING stage.
- Decide on a question or hypothesis
- Decide what data to collect and how
- Draw diagrams of the results
- Reach a conclusion about the question
Order the cycle 🔄
An interactive activity.
Complete the cycle 🧩
The cycle has five stages. First you do the _____, where you set a hypothesis. Then you collect the _____. Data you gather yourself is called _____ data. Near the end you reach a _____ about your question. Finally you _____ the work and suggest improvements.
Spot the true statements 🖍️
An interactive activity.
Which stage is it? 🧭
An interactive activity.
Plan an investigation ✍️
An interactive activity.