The Question
Is the average time to leave the NOHS parking lot, for a student who drives to and from school, and who leaves the NOHS building at 2:30, smaller than that of the average time to leave the NOHS parking lot, for a student who drives to and from school, who leaves the NOHS building at 2:35? 2:40?
Our initial hypothesis was that the data would have a close-to-normal distribution; students leaving at 2:30 and around 2:50 would get out quickly, while those leaving at around 2:40 would have large amounts of traffic to slow them down. By the end of the study, it became apparent that the hypothesis was correct, but smaller time intervals were used to show this (2:30pm - 2:35pm, 2:35pm - 2:40pm, 2:40pm - 2:45pm.)
Abstract
The data was collected by us and we rushed out of 11th period everyday as Everett started the clock on his watch to begin the timing of the students leaving. We talked on the phone from 2:30p.m. to 2:45p.m. and we shouted out names of students to watch and we recorded the time that they left the school and the time they left the parking lot. The data is plotted so that the “x” coordinates on the fitted line plot, represent time of leaving the high school building, while the ”y” coordinates represent time taken to leave the parking lot. This graph shows a noticeable increase in time taken to leave the parking lot for people leaving the building after roughly four minutes are elapsed after 11th period ends, when compared to those who leave before then. This time to leave the lot decreases after roughly twelve minutes have passed since 11th period ends. The best fit for the data is a cubic function, yielding a low r2 of 53.4%.The data was not well represented by the function on an r2 goodness of fit test, due to people loitering and the traffic changing from day to day.
We also put our data into multiple box plots, dividing up the categories into intervals of when students left the building. Our intervals consisted of five, ten, and fifteen minutes after the bell rank that a student left the building. The graphs clearly indicate a relationship with the longer it takes for a student to leave the building, the longer it also takes for a student to leave the parking lot between the times of 2:30p.m. and 2:45p.m. The graphs will indicate what is not shown well through the function, which is that the parking lot begins to clear up at around 2:45p.m. and thus the two best times to leave the school are between 2:30-2:35p.m. and after the rush which would be between 2:40-2:45p.m.
While the data is not well represented by a function, it is easy to see that leaving the building very quickly is advantageous. If a student leaves during the peak of traffic in the parking lot, their time to pull out is significantly longer than if they left the school building within five minutes after 11th period ending. Additionally, it may be wise to wait until the traffic has mostly passed, if a student is not capable of leaving within the first five minutes.