D. Data · Data and Likelihood

Asking Questions and Making Tally Tables

D1.2About 30 minutes

Learning goals

I can ask a survey question that has one clear answer.
I can collect data by watching, by doing an experiment, or by asking people.
I can make tally marks and bundle them in fives.
I can organize data in a tally table and count the tallies.

Words to know

data
Information we collect to answer a question.

survey
Asking many people the same question and writing down their answers.

interview
Asking a person questions and listening to their answers.

observation
Watching carefully and writing down what you see.

experiment
Trying something many times to see what happens.

tally mark
A short line that stands for 1. Every 5th mark goes across the other 4 to make a bundle of 5.

tally table
A table with categories and tally marks that shows how many of each.

category
One of the groups or choices in a set of data, like "skating" or "skiing".

Let's get started!

Your class wants to plan a winter fun day. What should you do: skating, tobogganing, building snowmen, or skiing? How can you find out what most people want?

You can collect data! Data is information that helps you answer a question.

Step 1: Ask a good question

A good data question asks about one thing. It is clear, and it has a short answer.

Good: "What is your favourite winter activity: skating, tobogganing, building a snowman, or skiing?"
Not so good: "What do you like to do?" (People could say anything, and it is hard to count.)

Giving people choices makes the answers easy to sort and count. Each choice is called a category.

Step 2: Collect the data

There are three main ways to collect data:

Interview or survey: ask people. "What is your favourite season?"
Observation: watch and record. Look out the window for 10 minutes and record the colour of each car that goes by.
Experiment: do something many times. Toss a paper cup 10 times. Does it land up, down, or on its side?

You can record the data in any way that works for you: check marks, drawings, writing names, or tally marks.

Step 3: Tally marks

A tally mark is a short line. Each line stands for 1.

When you get to 5, you draw the 5th line across the first 4 lines. This makes a bundle of 5. Bundles make it easy to count by 5s!

Tally marks for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. For 5, the fifth line goes across. 7 is one bundle of 5 and 2 more.

Counting tallies

To count tallies, count the bundles by 5s first, then count on the single lines by 1s.

For 2 bundles and 3 lines: 5, 10, then 11, 12, 13. That is 13.

Worked example

Making a tally table

Ms. Roy's Grade 1 class asked, "What is your favourite winter activity?" Here are the answers, one child at a time: skating, tobogganing, skating, snowman, skiing, skating, tobogganing, snowman, skating, tobogganing, skating, snowman, skiing, tobogganing, skating, snowman, tobogganing, skating.

Make a table with two columns. Write the categories in the first column: Skating, Tobogganing, Snowman, Skiing.
Read the answers one at a time. For each answer, draw one tally mark beside its category. Then cross the answer off the list.
When a category gets its 5th mark, draw it across the first four.
Count each row. Skating: one bundle and 2 more = 7. Tobogganing: one bundle = 5. Snowman: 4. Skiing: 2.
Check the total: 7 + 5 + 4 + 2 = 18. There were 18 answers, so every answer was counted once.

Skating 7, tobogganing 5, building a snowman 4, skiing 2. Skating is the favourite!

The finished tally table for Ms. Roy's class (18 children).

Winter activity	Tally	Number
Skating	one bundle of 5 + 2	7
Tobogganing	one bundle of 5	5
Snowman	4 lines	4
Skiing	2 lines	2
Total		18

You can add a column with the number for each category.

Worked example

Collecting data by observation

Liam looked at the bird feeder for 15 minutes and wrote: chickadee, blue jay, chickadee, cardinal, chickadee, blue jay, chickadee, chickadee, cardinal, chickadee. Make a tally table.

The question is "Which birds come to our feeder?" The categories are chickadee, blue jay, and cardinal.
Tally each bird. Chickadee gets 6 marks: one bundle of 5 and 1 more.
Blue jay gets 2 marks. Cardinal gets 2 marks.
Check: 6 + 2 + 2 = 10. Liam wrote 10 birds.

Chickadee 6, blue jay 2, cardinal 2.

Liam's tally table from his observation.

Just for fun

Tally marks are super old! People have found animal bones with rows of scratched counting marks on them from many thousands of years ago.

Hands-on activity

Be a data collector

Choose ONE way to collect data:

Interview: Ask at least 8 family members, neighbours or friends (you can phone or video call!) "What is your favourite season: winter, spring, summer, or fall?"
Observation: Look out the window for 10 minutes. Tally the colour of each car that drives by: white, black, grey, red, other.
Experiment: Toss a paper cup 15 times. Tally how it lands: right side up, upside down, or on its side.

Then:

Make a tally table on paper. Remember to bundle in 5s.
Count each row and write the number.
Add up all the rows. Does the total match the number of people you asked (or tosses you made)?
Tell a grown-up one thing you found out.

Your turn

How many is this? One bundle of 5 and 3 more lines.

How would you show 12 with tally marks?

Which is the better survey question? A: "What do you like?" B: "Which pet do you like best: dog, cat, or fish?"

Is this an interview, an observation, or an experiment? Rolling a toy car down a ramp 10 times to see how far it goes.

A tally table shows: Apples: 3 bundles. Pears: one bundle and 4 more. How many apples? How many pears?

You asked 10 people a question. Your tally table has 4, 3, and 2. What went wrong?

Why do we draw the 5th tally mark across the other four?

Keep going!

Collecting data takes patience. If you lose your place, that is okay! Cross off each answer as you tally it, and you will always know where you are.

More practice: warm-up

How many does this tally show? |||

How many is one bundle of tally marks?

True or false? Counting the birds that come to a bird feeder is an observation.

Fill in the blank: Each tally mark stands for ___.

How many is 2 bundles of 5?

More practice: on your own

How would you show 9 with tally marks?

Make a tally table. Answers to "Which pet do you like best?": dog, cat, dog, fish, dog, cat, dog, dog, fish, dog.

Interview, observation, or experiment? Asking your cousins which hockey team they cheer for.

Zoe drew some snowflakes: ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️. Count them. How do you show that number with tally marks?

A tally table shows: Spring: one bundle and 1 more. Summer: 2 bundles. Fall: 4 lines. How many chose each season? How many people answered in all?

Challenge

Find the mistake! Omar wanted to show 5. He drew 5 lines standing up, then drew a line across them. Is that right?

Plan a survey! Write a good question to find out your class's favourite Canadian animal. How will you record the answers?

Priya tossed a paper cup 15 times. Upside down: 2 bundles. Right side up: 3 lines. She forgot to tally on its side. How many times did it land on its side?

Check your understanding

Quiz

How many does this tally show? Two bundles of 5 and 1 more line.

Which way of collecting data is an interview?

When you draw tally marks, what do you do with the 5th mark?

A tally table shows: Dogs 6, Cats 4, Fish 2. How many answers are there in all?

Which question is best for a data survey?

How many does this tally show? 3 bundles of 5.

Watching a bird feeder and writing down each bird you see is...

For parents and teachers

What your child is learning: to pose a simple question, collect data by interview, observation or experiment, and organize it in a tally table (D1.2).

Common mistakes:

Drawing the 5th tally as a 5th upright line, or drawing a bundle with 5 uprights plus a slash (that is 6). Practise: four down, one across.
Counting each tally line by 1s even after bundling. Encourage counting bundles by 5s, then counting on.
Losing or double-counting answers. Teach the habit of crossing each answer off, then checking that the total matches.
Open-ended questions with too many answers. Help your child offer 3 or 4 choices.

How to help: Let your child run a real survey: what to have for Sunday dinner, which movie to watch, favourite season among relatives. Kids love asking grown-ups questions. Count tallies together by 5s and 1s.