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Sociologist Marta Tienda knows that numbers can be used for more than counting—you can actually tell a story with them. Marta studies people and groups by looking at numbers in the same way a detective looks at clues. She studies the data gathered in surveys and tables to find out how one part of a person's life, such as education, relates to another part, such as how much money they earn.
In this activity you'll first see how numbers can be interpreted through graphs and charts. Then it will be your turn to tell a story with numbers. You'll start by surveying your friends and classmates to find out how many hours of TV they watch, and what their math and English grades are. Then you'll look at the data you collected to see what story your numbers tell. |
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1. Print this activity.
Print this page, Marta's Data Interpretation, the Story by Numbers Survey, the Story by Numbers Data Sheet, and the Story by Numbers Journal.
2. Take a survey.
Use the Story by Numbers Survey to interview 10 friends about how much television they watch and their school grades. The survey will be anonymous, so let your friends know that you won't be sharing their information with anyone, and that you don't need them to write their names on the surveys.
3. Create a table.
After you have collected your surveys, you can use the data to create a table. Fill in the information you collected in your surveys on the Story by Numbers Data Sheet.
4. Tell a story.
Arrange your data into a graph or a chart to help you tell your story. Here are some ideas for graphs that you might create from your data. What stories do they tell? Write down your thoughts in your Story by Numbers Journal.
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