The Best Station

For our chapter one project, we chose to ask the question: Do you like to go to
Schmitz, Theis, or QD? to our whole Statistics class. Our variable, a characteristic of
the individual to be measured or observed, of this study was to figure out the preference
of gas stations throughout our Statistics class. This variable is qualitative because the
study categorizes the individuals, or the people or object of the study. Another reason
why our variable is qualitative is because the individuals had to answer the question
with a name of a store rather than with a number. The individuals of our survey were
the students who are taking the Statistics class.
We chose the whole population of our class because we wanted to know where
everyone likes to go. Conveniently, the class was small enough to be able to include
everybody. Also, deciding to use the whole population was the easiest way to avoid bias
in our results. If we were to choose only some of the individuals in the classroom, or a
sample, instead of our whole population, then not everyone in the class would have had
their opinion on our question.
The data collected from this survey is the nominal level of measurement. Our
survey is only the nominal level because our study categorized the individuals who
participated in the survey. Our study did not need a control group because we werent
changing a groups opinion on what they thought was the best gas station in Fowler.
Also, there wasnt a possibility of the placebo effect because we did not influence the
answer of the individuals participating in the survey. There was not any confidentiality or
privacy concerns with our survey because our question was not personal enough that
the individuals felt the need to answer anonymously.
We collected our data by going around the classroom and simply asking the
question to every student. This process is a form of a survey because we gave three
options for the individuals to choose from. We chose this process because it was the
easiest way to gather our information. When surveying our statistics class, we tried to
avoid bias by consistently asking the same question to the individuals. Also, we used
the same tone and voice level with everyone that we surveyed.
The results of our survey showed that statistics students prefered Schmitz over QD by 6
percent. Schmitz party store is prefered over Theis party store by almost 20 percent.
Overall, the survey has illustrated that statistics students prefer to go to Schmitz, and
Theis is the least preferred store. Some of the reasons why we think that Schmitz is the
most prefered party store is because there is a Subway inside, they serve ice cream in
multiple forms (ie. flurries, soft serve, shakes, etc.), and they have different fried food.
Businesses can use our survey to assess how they can make their store more attended.
For example, QD can compete with Schmitz by adding more freshly prepared food to
their store. Therefore, our survey can be used outside the classroom and be applicable
in the real world.