Are we really late for class?

Our Aim, Hypothesis and Method

• Aim: The aim of this study is to determine how 'on time' the watches of students are compared to those of teachers. From this data we can answer the ancient question: are we actually late to class?

• Hypothesis: We expect teachers to be closer to the exact time than students. This is because teachers are professionally required to be on time, and as adults are more likely to be organised in respect to time.

• To conduct this study, we synchronised our watch with the atomic clock from www.timeis.com and compared it to the watches of 20 students and 5 teachers. These sample numbers reflect the proportions of students to teachers in our school.

Teacher Results• This box plot visually expresses the time

deviation of teachers. With no values higher than 62 or lower than -36, we can deduce that the majority of teachers than no more than one minute from the exact time.

Correct time

Teacher's time

Time difference (secs)

2:59:50 2:59:40 -10

3:03:25 3:02:49 -36

11:40:23 11:41:35 62

11:42:24 11:42:00 -24

11:46:25 11:46:10 -15

Seconds

Student Results

• These tables and graphs display the results of our study. The box plot concisely shows the deviation of student watches from the exact time.

Correct time

Student's time

Time difference (secs)

11:38:00 11:36:18 18

11:38:10 11:37:10 -60

11:39:00 11:39:20 20

11:39:20 11:39:22 2

11:41:20 11:41:17 2

11:42:00 11:42:01 1

11:42:10 11:41:52 52

11:43:30 11:43:00 -30

11:46:10 11:46:10 0

11:46:30 11:44:10 -140

11:48:00 11:49:15 75

11:48:15 11:46:43 -135

11:50:35 11:51:22 87

11:50:35 11:50:45 15

2:53:00 2:51:26 -234

2:53:41 2:56:00 179

2:57:36 2:59:45 129

11:36:18 11:36:50 32

11:36:50 11:35:00 -65

11:37:19 11:36:10 -69

Seconds

In Comparison

Seconds

Teachers

Students

• This box plot shows the distribution of times displayed on the watches of teachers compared to those of students. It visually represents the comparatively low deviation of teachers when put up against students.

In ComparisonDistribution graph of teacher time deviation and

distribution

Distribution graph of student time deviation and distribution Teachers Students

• These graphs and tables show the dispersion and distribution of times displayed on the watches of teachers compared to students.

The variance, standard deviation and interquartile

range in the data for students is far greater than in teachers. This supports

the hypothesis that teachers are more on time

than students.

This is a predictive projection of normal distributions for teacher and student populations. The standard

deviation in time is far less for teachers than it is for students, which

provides greater evidence that teachers are more likely than

students to have roughly accurate time.

Seconds

Seconds

In Conclusion

• If this experiment were conducted again, a comparison between year levels or genders might provide a more interesting basis for study. Larger population sizes would also yield better and more insightful results.

• From the collected data we can conclude that the watches of teachers are far closer to the exact time than the watches of students. This means that if a student is accused by a teacher of being late, they probably are!