Statistics Problem for Class
 

Can anybody here help me out with this. The topic we are currently on is sampling distributions.

You are on the staff at the Post Office. Your job is to find a process to find the average waiting time for service. How do you collect the data, and once it is collected, what do you do next?

Thanks,
Tim

Re: Statistics Problem for Class
 

This is a trick question.

No one at the Post Office cares what your waiting time is.

Re: Statistics Problem for Class
 

What level statistics class? This matters cause there is a lot you could do with this problem, otherwise, you could give a simpler, but less correct solution..

Re: Statistics Problem for Class
 

A couple of questions:

1. Do you count the time that people spend waiting if they were in the wrong line?

2. Do you count the time that people spend lying on the floor with their hands over their heads, praying quietly that the shooter thinks that they are already dead?

3. How about the people who are dead? They've got a really long wait for service -- it'll screw up your statistics for sure.

I think you should stand in the middle of the customer area with a clip board, writing down the time that people enter the building until they are waited on. You should make small talk with the customers -- say things like, "Yeah, I guessed you were in the wrong line way back when you got in it." and "Sure. I suppose that the line would move faster if there was one more person working the counter, but there's a big budget crunch on." and "This? Oh, this is a very important study in how long people wait at the Post Office." and "Hahahaha! That was the wrong line, too!"