DRAFT — under teacher review.

Explaining vs Describing Your Data Collection

Hamilton College · Year 12 · 2026

The jump from 7–8 to 9–10 on Indicator 1 (Data Collection) comes down to a single word in the rubric: "explains" instead of "describes". Every year, students hit 7–8 and can't understand why — it is almost always this.

Tip

Read your data-collection-plan.md and circle every sentence that contains the word "because". If there are fewer than three, you are describing, not explaining — and you will cap at 7–8 regardless of how thorough the plan is.

The rubric in plain language

Band	What the rubric actually says	What that means in practice
7–8	Describes how the data collected will be used to determine user characteristics and the technical environment	You say what the data is for. "I used interviews to find out what features users want."
9–10	Explains the use of the selected data collection methods	You say why this method was the right choice for this kind of data. "I chose interviews over surveys because I needed qualitative insight into workflows that users couldn't easily articulate in a questionnaire."

The word "explains" requires a reason — not just a statement.

Side-by-side: same plan, two different bands

The scenario: a student whose project is a school assignment tracker. They used interviews and a survey.

7–8 version (describing)

I used an interview with my client to find out what features they wanted in the assignment tracker. I also used a survey to ask students which subjects gave them the most homework. These helped me determine the requirements for the system.

What's missing: There is no reason given for why an interview was chosen over, say, a survey. There is no reason given for why a survey was used for students rather than interviewing them. The student is describing what happened, not explaining the decision.

9–10 version (explaining)

I chose an interview for my initial data collection because my client — a teacher — needed to articulate complex workflow preferences that a survey's fixed-choice responses couldn't capture. A face-to-face conversation allowed me to follow up on unexpected answers in real time. I then chose a survey for the broader student group because I needed countable data — specifically, which subjects generated the highest homework load — and a survey's closed-ended questions give me numbers I can rank. Interviewing 30 students would have been impractical in the available time, and quantitative data served the purpose better here.

What's there: Each method has a reason tied to the type of data needed and the practical constraints. The student is not just listing methods — they are justifying each one against the alternatives they did not choose.

The formula for an "explaining" sentence

I chose [method] over [alternative method] because I needed [type of data / depth / scale], and [method] allows me to [specific advantage].

Write one of these for each of your three or more data collection methods. If you can't complete the sentence, you do not yet know why you chose that method — and the examiner will ask.

Common traps

"I used interviews because they are good for qualitative data." — Still describing (a general property of interviews), not explaining your specific choice. Add: why did this project need qualitative data at this stage?
"I chose three methods to get a variety of data." — "Variety" is not a reason. Name what each method adds that the others cannot.
"I used surveys because they are easy to send out." — Convenience is not a justification the rubric rewards. Reframe: a survey allowed me to reach all 80 students in the year level simultaneously, which an interview schedule could not achieve within the one-week collection window.

Why VCAA cares

The C2-1 validation is a presentation — the examiner will ask follow-up questions. A student who has only described their methods will struggle to answer "Why didn't you just use a survey for everything?". A student who has explained their choices has already answered that question in their own plan.

Practise saying your explanations out loud before the validation. If you stumble, rewrite. The rubric rewards understanding, not recall.