ZeenaJarrar

Kiker6
ConfidenceIntervalMiniProject
Senioritis:
asupposedafflictionofstudentsintheirfinalyearofhighschoolorcollege,
characterizedbyadeclineinmotivationorperformance.
Atermwehaveallbecomealittletoo
familiarwithoursenioryearofhighschool.Thelackofmotivationthataccompaniesseniorsin
theirfinalyearofhighschoolafterbeingacceptedintocollegeislikethelimboofreallife.We
mustallwaititoutuntilgraduationcomes.But,atacollegereadyschoolsuchasLASA,are
studentsasaffectedbythissocalledsickness?IchosetostudythisquestionbecauseIwantedto
seenotonlyhowmuchseniorsatLASAwerewillingandabletoworkontheirhomeworkin
thesespecificsubjects,butalsotocomparethetwotogethertoseeifonerequiredmoretimeor
wasworthputtinginmoreeffort.AsasenioratLASAmyself,IwillbeabletoseehowI
compareamongmyclassmateswiththeeffortweputintoourstudiesinMathandEnglish.

ThepopulationfromwhichItookmysamplewastheseniorclassof2016attheLiberal

ArtsandScienceAcademy.Togenerateasamplewhichhadtheleastamountofbiased,Iuseda
listofallseniorsprovidedbytheofficeandeditedittothebestofmyabilitiestomakesurethere
werenorepeatsandremovedallstudentswhoarentattendingtheschoolanymore.Fromthislist
ofstudentsinalphabeticalorder,Iassignedeveryoneanumber.NextIwentontoarandom
numbergeneratorIfoundonline(random.org)andusedthetruerandomnumbergenerator
settingmyminimumnumberat1andmymaximumnumberat244,whichwasthetotalnumber
ofstudentsIcalculatedintheseniorclass.Iclickedtherandomnumbergenerator30timestoget
eachnumberthatwasassignedtoastudentandmatchedthemtothename.OnceIfoundmy

sample,Isentoutamessagetoeachstudentaskingiftheywouldbewillingtobeapartofmy
study.Ifoundeachofthemduringlunchmakingsuretheydidntgooffcampusthatdayandgot
theiranswersandsignatures.AlthoughItriedtodiminishbias,itwasstillpossibleformy
sampletonotberepresentativeofmypopulationbecausemylistfromtheofficewhichIedited
couldhaveleftoutsomestudentsandpossiblyrepeatedotherswhichIdidntnotice.Thiswould
makeitimpossibleformetopickcertainstudentsandgiveotherstudentsalargerchanceof
beingpicked.Mysamplecouldalsonotberepresentativeofmypopulationbecausesome
studentsarenttakingmathclassessoforthestudentswhoputzeroitmightmeanthattheydont
spendtimeontheirhomeworkorthattheydonthaveany,whichmakesabigdifference.
Anotherissuewouldbestudentsnotreportingaccuratehourstheyspendontheirhomework,
whetheritislessormore.Iftheywerepreviouslytoldaboutthisstudytheycouldpossiblytime
themselvesforaweekwhiledoingEnglishandMathhomeworkthengivetheaveragetogeta
moreaccurateanswer.
My90%confidenceintervalis(0.582,0.964)whichmeansIam90%confidentthatthetrue
populationmeanofhoursspentonEnglishhomeworkbetweeneachclassperiodcanbefound
between0.582hoursand0.964hours.My95%confidenceintervalis(0.543,1.00)whichmeans
Iam90%confidentthatthetruepopulationmeanofhoursspentonEnglishhomeworkbetween
eachclassperiodcanbefoundbetween0.543hoursand1.00hour.My98%confidenceinterval
is(0.497,1.05)whichmeansIam98%confidentthatthetruepopulationmeanofhoursspenton
Englishhomeworkbetweeneachclassperiodcanbefoundbetween0.497hoursand1.05hours.
Asonecansee,asthepercentconfidentincreases,sodoestheintervalwhichthetrue
populationsmeancouldbefound.

My90%confidenceintervalis(0.923,1.443)whichmeansIam90%confidentthatthetrue
populationmeanofhoursspentonMathhomeworkbetweeneachclassperiodcanbefound
between0.923hoursand1.433hours.My95%confidenceintervalis(0.870,1.496)which
meansIam95%confidentthatthetruepopulationmeanofhoursspentonMathhomework
betweeneachclassperiodcanbefoundbetween0.870hoursand1.496hours.My98%
confidenceintervalis(0.807,1.560)whichmeansIam98%confidentthatthetruepopulation
meanofhoursspentonMathhomeworkbetweeneachclassperiodcanbefoundbetween0.807
hoursand1.560hours.Withthissample,youcanseethatastheconfidencepercentageincreases
sodoestheintervalasitdidwiththeEnglishmeanhours.
Asyoucansee,thestudentsinmysamplestillseemedtobeintherangearound.5hourstoan
hourforEnglishhomeworkandfrom.8hoursto1.5hoursformath.SeniorsatLASAtendto
spendmoretimeontheirMathhomeworkthanEnglish,thiscouldbebecausethereistypically
lesshomeworkinEnglishexceptforbookreading.Thestudentsinmysampleseemtobe
spendingagoodamountoftimeontheirhomeworkregardless,meaningtheyeitherarent
affectedbysenioritisortheycouldbespendingasignificanttimelessontheirhomeworkthan
theywouldbeiftheywerestilljuniorsorbelow.Iseemtobeplacedrightalongthelowerscale
oftheestimatedtruepopulationmeanamongmypeersinhowmuchtimeIputintomyMath
andEnglishclasses.Ilearnedthatmypeersseemtobefinishingoftheyearstrongratherthan
putoffthework,whichIwassurprisedby.IfIranthetestagainIwouldpreparemysubjects
beforehandtotellthemtotimethemselveswhiledoingtheirhomeworkandgivemetheaverage
timespentforeachclassoverfiveperiodsworthofclasses.

Appendix

"TrueRandomNumberService."
RANDOM.ORG
.N.p.,n.d.Web.24Jan.2016.

RCode:
>mean(statistics$English)+1.699*(sd(statistics$English)/sqrt(30))
[1]0.9643643
>mean(statistics$English)1.699*(sd(statistics$English)/sqrt(30))
[1]0.5823024
>mean(statistics$English)2.045*(sd(statistics$English)/sqrt(30))
[1]0.5433991
>mean(statistics$English)+2.045*(sd(statistics$English)/sqrt(30))
[1]1.003268
>mean(statistics$English)+(2.462*(sd(statistics$English)/sqrt(30)))
[1]1.050154
>mean(statistics$English)(2.462*(sd(statistics$English)/sqrt(30)))

[1]0.4965127
>mean(statistics$Math)+1.699*(sd(statistics$Math)/sqrt(30))
[1]1.443286
>mean(statistics$Math)1.699*(sd(statistics$Math)/sqrt(30))
[1]0.923381
>mean(statistics$Math)2.045*(sd(statistics$Math)/sqrt(30))
[1]0.8704419
>mean(statistics$Math)+2.045*(sd(statistics$Math)/sqrt(30))
[1]1.496225
>mean(statistics$Math)+2.462*(sd(statistics$Math)/sqrt(30))
[1]1.560027
>mean(statistics$Math)2.462*(sd(statistics$Math)/sqrt(30))
[1]0.8066396