A. ______% of students definitely enjoy speaking
English in class.
B. ______% of students think it’s important to speak
English.
C. ______% would like to speak English in future.
Now think about the following three questions (A–C):
A. What does this data tell us about the students?
B. What doesn’t it tell us?
C. What question(s) might you now want to ask
Daniela’s students?
Commentary If you look at the information that Daniela collected through
the questionnaire, you will notice that it is mainly
represented in the form of numbers and percentages.
This is what we call quantitative data, i.e. information in the
form of numbers, statistics or percentages, and it helps you
understand how common or uncommon a situation is. In
other words, it helps you answer questions like How many?
or How often?
Questions 1–3 above are typical ‘quantitative questions’.
As an English teacher you will probably have noticed that
they are also yes/no questions, so they provide a limited
range of answers. Other common quantitative questions
start with ‘How much…?’, ‘How many…?’, ‘How long…?’,
‘When…?’, etc. Of course, we can also collect quantitative
data without asking any questions. For example, you could
get a colleague to observe your lesson and to count how
many times you do different things. This would also provide
quantitative data.
1
Oxford English Dictionary 1. Do you like or enjoy speaking English in class? Yes, I do:
20 More or less:
13 No, I don’t:
5 2. Is it important to you to speak English? Yes, it is:
32 Not sure:
3 No, it isn’t:
5 3. Would you like to speak English in future? Yes, I would:
30 Not sure:
3 No, I wouldn’t:
3
