Question

Parking at a university. Parking at a large university has become a big problem. The university's administrators want to determine the average parking time of its students. An administrator inconspicuously followed 250 students and carefully recorded the time it took them to find a parking spot.

a. What is the population of interest to the university administration?

b. Identify the sample of interest to the university administration.

c. What is the experimental unit of interest to the university administration?

d. What is the variable of interest to the university administration?

Short answer

a. The entire group of students that park their vehicles at the university.

b. 250 students who park their vehicles at the university for whom the time is noted.

c. 250 students for which the data was amassed.

d. The time taken by the students to find a parking spot.

Step-by-step solution

Identifying the population of interest

The population of interest can be seen as the group with items of similar attributes, and by using analysis, the conclusion is drawn. Here, the population of interest for the administrationis the batch of individuals who park at their university.

Finding the sample of interest

The sample of interest denotes the subset of the population that the researcher wants to study. In this case, the sample of interest isthe 250 students who park their vehicles at the university. For them, the time is noted.

Determining the experimental unit of interest

The experimental unit is the primary unit, which the statistician wants to analyze, study about, and hence make conclusions. This is the main subject of the research study. Hence, in this case,it is 250 students on whom the study is being conducted.

Computing the variable of interest

Variable of interest indicates the factor that does not remain stagnant and can be altered. In this scenario, the variable is thetime taken by individuals to locate the parking spot.