Katherine Sasser

AP Statistics
7th Period

The Confidence Interval Mini- Project

How long does it take Austin High School seniors to get to school in the morning?
Katherine Sasser
AP Statistics
7th Period
Kiker
2-10-15

Katherine Sasser
AP Statistics
7th Period
How long does it take Austin High School seniors to get to school?

Does your day always start with anger and frustration? Do you dread going to
school everyday because of the long commute? Does traffic get you down? Ever
wondered if you spend more time in traffic than your peers? Well youre about to
find out. This random sample of Austin High School seniors will reveal the truth
about commute times to Austin High. With the population of the city of Austin
rapidly increasing and roads unsuitable for the increase in usage are suffering. For
those who commute to school, this phenomenon has a direct effect. Students may
wonder if the time they spend in the car everyday is significant to those of their
peers. With this data, students will be able to know how their commute times relate
to those around them.
In order to successfully conduct a collective sample, a simple random sample
must be collected. From the population, Austin High School seniors, 31 students
were randomly selected. Then, each randomly selected student was asked the same
question with the same dialogue and presentation How many minutes did it take
you to get to school this morning? Then students would proceed with providing an
answer to this question in minutes. After, a signature was collected. This was
repeated 31 times with each student. The data was collected in a table with three
categories- name, commute (in minutes), and signature. (Appendix I).
This sample does not take into account the varying ways of transportation
different students take. While students were randomly selected, the sample may
not represent students that ride their bike, take the bus or walk to school. Even

Katherine Sasser
AP Statistics
7th Period
though these students had an equal chance of being selected for the sample, they
still may not be represented.
In order to calculate a confidence interval, first the conditions must be verified.
This is done by completing the assumptions. (Appendix II). After verifying the
conditions of a random sample and that the sample is less than ten percent of the
population, a confidence interval can be constructed. This was found by finding the
mean value for the sample, plus or minus, the critical value (determined from the
confidence level) times the standard error. Three confidence intervals are created,
each with a different confidence level. First, I used a confidence level of 90%.
(Appendix III.) A confidence level of 90 produced an interval of (10.136, 27.864).
This can be interpreted as; we are 90% confident that the true population mean of
minutes it takes Austin High School seniors to get to school will lie between 10.136
and 27.864 minutes. When using different confidence levels, different intervals are
constructed. For a 95% confidence level, the interval of (8.440, 29.561) was
produced. This can be interpreted as; we are 95% confident that the true population
mean of minutes it takes Austin High School seniors to get to school will be between
8.440 and 29.561 minutes. And finally when using a 98% confidence interval, we
are 98% confident that the true population mean of minutes it takes Austin High
School seniors to get to school will be in the range of 3.800 and 34.1999 minutes.
After constructing the appropriate intervals, students can accurately compare
their commute times to those of their peers. With a mean time of 19 minutes, and
an interval of 10.136 and 27.864 minutes, students are able to determine the
variability of their drive. From their conclusion, they may understand geographically
why they attend that school or question why they make the commute daily. If this
project was to be repeated, a larger sample size would have been taken to better

Katherine Sasser
AP Statistics
7th Period
represent the population. Or, a change in population would occur. A sample taken
from the entire population of Austin High may be a better representative sample.
But overall, the data collection was random and was a fairly representative sample
so the data is valid. From this data, students can evaluate their commute in relation
to their peers.

Katherine Sasser
AP Statistics
7th Period
Appendix

I.

II.

III.

Data Collection Table

Assumptions

90% Confidence Interval

Katherine Sasser
AP Statistics
7th Period

IV.

95% and 98% Confidence Interval