Curriculum links
NCEA Mathematics Achievement Standard AS90193
- use statistical methods and information
Mathematics and Statistics: Statistics strand - level 6
– Plan and conduct investigations using the statistical enquiry cycle:
- justifying the variables and measures used;
- managing sources of variation, including through the use of random sampling;
- identifying and communicating features in context (trends, relationships between
- variables, and differences within and between distributions), using multiple displays;
- justifying findings, using displays and measures.
Background
This activity uses the SURF for Schools dataset to explore whether males and females are paid equally. It is designed to give students practice in using data to answer a question, as required for AS 90193 – using statistical methods and information.
You may want to use a subset of the dataset where students are analysing the data manually.
Sample answers
Part 1
| Sex |
Number |
Mean ($) |
Standard
Deviation |
Minimum ($) |
Lower
Quartile ($) |
Median ($) |
Upper
Quartile ($) |
Maximum ($) |
| Female |
153 |
11,006.54 |
11,197.10 |
- |
1,000.00 |
8,000.00 |
18,000.00 |
46,000.00 |
| Male |
147 |
18,326.53 |
14,264.70 |
- |
5,000.00 |
16,000.00 |
28,000.00 |
61,000.00 |
Box plot of wages/salary by sex
Part 2
Mean income from wages and salary by sex and highest qualification obtained
| |
Highest Qualification |
| Sex |
None |
School |
Vocational |
Degree |
| Female |
6,119.05 |
10,129.03 |
14,633.33 |
18,947.37 |
| Male |
13,326.09 |
17,687.27 |
20,277.78 |
32,071.43 |
Median female earnings are below the lower quartile for males for those with a degree. This indicates a large difference between the earnings of females and males. In addition, the mean earnings for males are much higher than they are for females.
Box plot of wages and salary for degree qualification by sex
Box plot of wages and salary for vocational qualification by sex
Box plot of wages and salary for school qualification by sex
Box plot of wages and salary for no qualification by sex
