Clarification details
Updated May 2019. The section dealing with ‘Required quality of student response’ has been updated.
Students need to provide evidence of each component of the statistical enquiry cycle detailed in Explanatory Note 3 of the standard.
Selecting a variable to investigate
Sufficient time needs to be allocated for students to research the context and acquire appropriate contextual knowledge. At all levels of achievement the students need to select a variable to investigate which is informed by this contextual knowledge. While students could investigate more than one time series or combine series, this is not a requirement of the standard.
Identifying features in data
Features in the data need to include a quantitative description of the trend using the smoothed data.
It may be appropriate to describe the trend in sections if these are clearly identifiable in the display and are over a substantial period of time.
Features in the data also need to include a description of the seasonal pattern.
Using the model to make a forecast
Students need to make a forecast for at least one future time period in context. It is not sufficient to just produce a table of values. The accuracy of the forecast could be discussed by referring to the displays and by using the contextual knowledge gained from research.
Required quality of student response
For Merit, students need to justify all findings with reference to evidence from the displays and statistics, and link the purpose and findings to their research.
For Excellence, students need to integrate the statistical and contextual knowledge gained from their research throughout the response. This may include reflecting on the process, evaluating the adequacy of the model(s), or showing a deeper understanding of the model(s).