Chapter 5: Positive and Negative Decimal Numbers Numbers in the Real World

School Crime

Sixth through twelth grade students were asked to complete a questionnaire.  Some results of that survey are listed below.
 

PERCENT OF STUDENTS ON A SCALE OF 0 TO 100	Occurred	Witnessed	Worried about	Happened to student
Bullying, Physical Attack, or Robbery	71%	56%	25%	12%
Bullying	56%	42%	18%	8%
Physical Attack	43%	33%	10%	4%
Robbery	12%	6%	6%	4%

 
* Students who reported more than one type of incident are included in the
overall victimization percentages only one time.

Source:  U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statis-
tics, National Household Education Survey, 1993.

Assuming there were 12,000 students surveyed, how many of them knew physical attacks had occurred at their school?    How many had witnessed a physical attack?    How many had been attacked? 

What percentage of students knew that a physical attack had occurred but had not witnessed it?    How many students would that be if there were 8,000 students responding to the survey? 

How accurate do you think the survey results are, based on your own personal experience?
Read the supporting information to find out how the survey was conducted.  Do you believe there could have been bias in this surveying technique?    Explain your reasoning.
 

If you took a similar survey at your school, do you think the results would be similar or much different?    What do you think your percentages would be? 

What ratio of students knew a robbery had occurred?    What ratio of students had witnessed a physical attack?