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Year 10
Higher

Biased questioning

I can evaluate various real-world questionnaires and identify bias in questioning.

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New
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Year 10
Higher

Biased questioning

I can evaluate various real-world questionnaires and identify bias in questioning.

Download all resources
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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Questionnaires are used in a variety of jobs.
  2. Questionnaires may have been designed to hide intentional bias.
  3. When completing a questionnaire, the data it collects should be purposeful.

Keywords

  • Questionnaire - A questionnaire is a set of written questions designed to collect information from a respondent.

Common misconception

Pupils may unintentionally add bias to their questions.

Have other pupils check questions for any bias and support their peers in rewording them.


To help you plan your year 10 maths lesson on: Biased questioning, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

In preparation for this lesson, ask pupils to bring in ‘interesting’ questions from magazines / off of websites to compare in groups in the lesson.
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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
There are 5 stages in the Statistical Enquiry .
Correct Answer: Cycle, cycle
Q2.
Laura is a conducting a survey about food. One of her questions is "It is important to eat healthily and fruit is healthy. Do you like to eat fruit?" What is wrong with Laura's question?
Her question is ambiguous.
Her question needs a time frame.
Correct answer: Her question is leading.
Her question is too open.
Q3.
Aisha carries out a survey to find out how much time people spend gaming. How could Aisha's question be improved?
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: Add a time frame.
Make it less leading.
Make it less ambiguous.
Correct answer: Provide response boxes.
Q4.
Lucas wants to find out how many books pupils in year 10 read. What is wrong with his question?
An image in a quiz
He shouldn't give response boxes.
It is leading.
Correct answer: There are over-lapping categories.
It is ambiguous.
Correct answer: There is no option for someone who didn't read any books.
Q5.
The Oak PE teacher wants to find out how much exercise his pupils do. What is wrong with their question?
An image in a quiz
The question is leading.
An open question would be better.
The response boxes overlap.
Correct answer: The responses options are ambiguous.
Q6.
Sam designs a questionnaire to find out how much TV people watch. The first question is 'What is your age?' Select the most suitable response boxes.
under 12; 13 - 18; 19 - 30; 31 - 50; 51 - 75; 76+
under 12; 12 - 18; 19 - 30; 31 - 50; 51 - 75; 75+
under 12; 13 - 18; 19 - 30; 30 - 50; 50 - 75; 75+
Correct answer: under 12; 12 - 18; 19 - 30; 31 - 50; 51 - 75; 76+
under 12; 12 - 18; 19 - 30; 30 - 50; 50 - 75; 75+

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
A is a set of written questions designed to collect information from a respondent.
Correct Answer: questionnaire, Questionnaire
Q2.
Select all the biased questions.
Correct answer: Don't you think our product is amazing?
Correct answer: Intelligent people read books. Do you read books?
How many films did you watch last month?
Do you not agree that you are a person who doesn't not exercise?
Correct answer: Football is boring and awful. Do you like football?
Q3.
Izzy writes the question: "How many pets do you have?". What should Izzy consider when making response boxes for this question?
Correct answer: Have a none or 0 option.
Have no biased options.
Correct answer: Have no overlaps between options.
Correct answer: Have a "more than" option.
Have no leading options.
Q4.
An Internet service provider asks: In your opinion, how would you rate the speed of your broadband?: [Amazing, Excellent, Great, Good, Bad, Poor]. What is wrong with their question?
The responses are overlapping.
Correct answer: The responses are subjective.
Correct answer: The responses are biased towards positive answers.
The question has double negatives.
Q5.
Select all the questions that are considered to be asking for personal information.
Correct answer: What is your age?
How many films did you watch last month?
Correct answer: What is your height?
What type of films do you like?
Correct answer: What is your weight?
Q6.
A supermarket manager wants to find out how satisfied customers are with staff. He asks customers: "Do you feel helped by every member of staff when you go to this shop?". Criticise their question.
Correct answer: Some customers may not need any help and so answer 'no'.
The question contains double negatives.
The question is asking for personal information.
Correct answer: Some customers may say 'no' as they haven't met all the staff.
The question is leading people to answer 'yes'.