GCSE Mathematics
'Read All About It'
Introduction
In this coursework I will compare, two articles from two different newspapers and then draw some conclusions form the results.
The two articles I intend to compare relate to the recent event concerning, Mr Blunkett. One is from the Manchester Evening News (tabloid), and the other is The Sun (broadsheet). I chose this story because it was one of the hottest topics on the newspapers at the moment.
I will be comparing word lengths, using 100 words from each article. People tend to think that tabloids are easier to read and express things in much simpler terms than broadsheets. This observation then leads me to the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis: The tabloid (M.E.N) will contain shorter words than the broadsheet (The Sun)
Pre-Test
To prevent any problems from occurring during my experiment, I am going to do a pre-test that will involve me counting the lengths of 50 words from the Burnley Express, that is nothing to do with my experiment later on.
Pre-Test Results
Word Length
Tally
Total
5
2
0
3
6
4
7
5
9
6
4
7
4
8
9
0
1
2
0
3
During the pre-test many problems occurred, and these will need to be accounted for before I begin my experiment. The problems are:
* Punctuation
* Names appearing in text
* Headlines and Sub-headlines
* Hyphenated Words
* Numbers included
The Experiment
In this experiment I will count the lengths of 100 words from my two articles. I intend to use stratified sampling (stratifying paragraphs), to prevent any bias happening. I will pick a random starting point using the random number generator on a calculator. If I find out that the paragraph I am counting will not have enough words remaining to count, then I will go back to the beginning of the paragraph.
'Read All About It'
Introduction
In this coursework I will compare, two articles from two different newspapers and then draw some conclusions form the results.
The two articles I intend to compare relate to the recent event concerning, Mr Blunkett. One is from the Manchester Evening News (tabloid), and the other is The Sun (broadsheet). I chose this story because it was one of the hottest topics on the newspapers at the moment.
I will be comparing word lengths, using 100 words from each article. People tend to think that tabloids are easier to read and express things in much simpler terms than broadsheets. This observation then leads me to the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis: The tabloid (M.E.N) will contain shorter words than the broadsheet (The Sun)
Pre-Test
To prevent any problems from occurring during my experiment, I am going to do a pre-test that will involve me counting the lengths of 50 words from the Burnley Express, that is nothing to do with my experiment later on.
Pre-Test Results
Word Length
Tally
Total
5
2
0
3
6
4
7
5
9
6
4
7
4
8
9
0
1
2
0
3
During the pre-test many problems occurred, and these will need to be accounted for before I begin my experiment. The problems are:
* Punctuation
* Names appearing in text
* Headlines and Sub-headlines
* Hyphenated Words
* Numbers included
The Experiment
In this experiment I will count the lengths of 100 words from my two articles. I intend to use stratified sampling (stratifying paragraphs), to prevent any bias happening. I will pick a random starting point using the random number generator on a calculator. If I find out that the paragraph I am counting will not have enough words remaining to count, then I will go back to the beginning of the paragraph.
