I like a topic that you can have fun with and also relates to the big bad world outside the classroom. We are constantly asked our opinions on websites, customer feedback surveys … even personality ‘tests’ in magazines. Every day there seems to be a new set of survey results hitting the news. How can you link a lesson with life?

Instead of telling pupils about biased questionning and surveys, why not give them a week or so to make a note of how often they are asked questions? They can evidence it by taking photographs, screengrabs, cutting surveys out or writing them down.

Task
Mix up the pupils into groups and get them to focus on what the question is asking and how they are expected to answer.

Note
Be prepared for some off topic discussion if they have surveys like ‘Which member of boyband X are you most likely to marry?’ or ‘Have you got what it takes to be the next (insert sportsperson or team manager here)?’

Development
Discuss which questions are fair (unbiased) and which are leading you to a certain opinion. If there are multiple choice answers, do they cover all possible ideas? Think about who would have access to this survey (sampling/sample size).

Challenge
Imagine you work for a website, magazine or shop.
1. Design a fair survey researching opinions on a relevant topic.
2. Design a very biased survey on the same topic.
3. Carry out the surveys on the same people.
4. Compare results.
5. What impact did the bias/unbiased style have?