In: Statistics and Probability
A bank with a branch located in a commercial district of a city has the business objective of improving the process for serving customers during the noon-to-1 PM lunch period. To do so, the waiting time (defined as the number of minutes that elapses from when the customer enters the line until he or she reaches the teller window) needs to be shortened to increase customer satisfaction. A random sample of 15 customers is selected and the waiting times were collected and can be seen below:
4.21 5.55 3.02 5.13 4.77 2.34 3.54 3.20
4.50 6.10 0.38 5.12 6.46 6.19 3.79
Suppose that another branch, located in a residential area, is also
concerned with the noon-to-1 PM lunch period. A random sample of 15
customers is selected and the waiting times were collected and can
be seen below:
9.66 5.90 8.02 5.79 8.73 3.82 8.01 8.35
10.49 6.68 5.64 4.08 6.17 9.91 5.47
(a) Is there evidence of a difference in the variability of the waiting time between the two branches? (Use α = 0.05.)
(b) Determine the p-value in (a) and interpret its meaning.
(c) What assumption about the population distribution of each bank is necessary in (a)? Also, is the assumption valid for these data? (Justify your response through with Statistical charts, graphs, or calculations)
(d) Based on the results of (a), is it appropriate to use the pooled-variance t test to compare the means of the two branches?
(a)
σ₁: standard deviation of C25 |
σ₂: standard deviation of C26 |
Ratio: σ₁/σ₂ |
F method was used. This method is accurate for normal data only. |
Descriptive Statistics
Variable | N | StDev | Variance | 95% CI for σ² |
C25 | 15 | 1.638 | 2.683 | (1.438, 6.673) |
C26 | 15 | 2.082 | 4.336 | (2.324, 10.783) |
Ratio of Variances
Estimated Ratio |
95% CI for Ratio using F |
0.618842 | (0.208, 1.843) |
Test
Null hypothesis | H₀: σ₁² / σ₂² = 1 |
Alternative hypothesis | H₁: σ₁² / σ₂² ≠ 1 |
Significance level | α = 0.05 |
Method | Test Statistic |
DF1 | DF2 | P-Value |
F | 0.62 | 14 | 14 | 0.380 |
Since the p-value (0.380) is greater than the significance level (0.05), we cannot reject the null hypothesis.
Therefore, we cannot conclude that there is a difference in the variability of the waiting time between the two branches.
(b) The p-value is 0.380.
(c) Valid assumptions are as follows:
(d) Yes, it is appropriate to use the pooled-variance t test to compare the means of the two branches.