How Do You Spend Your Time?

For our Statistics Chapter Four project, we chose to take a closer look at the lives of
Fowler High School students. We chose to look into their cumulative GPA and how many hours
of Netflix they watch in a day. We chose this topic because we were interested in seeing if these
number values correlate. We have come to the conclusion that these data values hardly
correlate. There were students who had a 1.8 cumulative GPA that watched no Netflix and
students that have a 3.95 GPA that watch 3 hours of Netflix a day. We found that the amount of
Netflix you watch a day does not really affect your GPA a great amount or as much as we
expected it to correlate. We were extremely shocked by this outcome and assumed that it would
correlation so much more than it actually did. Now let's jump into how we found out why our
data had such a weak correlation.
Our correlation coefficient r that we found was 0.0696. This number states how close or
how far our data correlates. The closer the number is to zero, the less the data correlates. The
number that we calculated is in the middle but still has a pretty weak correlation but does show
some sort of correlation. We were expecting our data to have much more correlation than it
ended up having which surprised both of us.
Our x-bar
and y-bar
points
calculated
out to be
3.361 and
1.931. X-
bar is the
average
GPA is a
3.361 and
the average
amount of
hours FHS
students
watch a day
is 1.931.
Overall, x-
bar and y-
bar show
the
averages of
FHS students GPA and the average hours they watch Netflix a day.
Shown above is our graph that holds all of our data points that we have collected along
with our least squares regression line that we will go into more detail about later. Our graph
shows that there were students who had a 1.8 cumulative GPA that watched no Netflix and
students that have a 3.95 GPA that watch 3 hours of Netflix a day. This is insane to us because
you would just assume that the more Netflix you watch a day the lower your grades would be
but our data proves us wrong!
The least squares regression line formula is y hat equals a plus bx. Our least squares
regression line that we found came out to be y hat equals -0.21x + 2.65. We showed our least
squares regression line on our graph. Our least squares regression line is the light blue line
going through our graph.
A marginal change is also known as slope. In this case, the slope of the line in our
graph. We found our slope to be -0.21. NUMBER 10
We personally believe that we do have an influential point. An influential point is also
known as a point that is way out there and can possibly throw off your data. Our influential point
is the person that responded to our survey stating that they watch seven hours of Netflix. This is
way more hours than what most Fowler High School students were stating they watch a day.
This is why this point on our graph is influential because it is way more than what most people
were saying.
Our coefficient of determination is also known as r squared. Our r squared or coefficient
of determination that we found was 0.0048. This number value shows us that there is less than
a zero percent correlation between the data of hours of Netflix and how GPA. We are really
surprised by this because we thought that it would correlate much more. The coefficient of
determination is the proportion of the variance in the dependent variable that is predictable from
the independent variable. In other words, the coefficient of variation explains how much of the
variability of a factor can be caused or explained by its relationship to another factor.
The amount of explained variation in our regression is 0.0048. The same data value of
0.0048 goes for our unexplained variation. Explained variation is how closely related our data is
to each other. So in other words, how well a students GPA correlated to the number of hours
they watch Netflix a day. The number 0.0048 shows us that there was some correlation but it
was very weak.
We personally think that we do have some lurking variables in our study that we did not
take into consideration beforehand. For example, the students that get good grades yet still
watch multiple hours of Netflix, might not have a job or are in a sport so they have more free
time than the students that don’t get good grades and do not watch a lot of Netflix, they could
simply just be in a sport or have a job or even both. These are something that we did not take
into consideration and probably should have.
In our dataset, we found a value of 2.1 to be our interpolation. Interpolation means is a
method of constructing new data points within the range of a discrete set of known data points.
Also in our dataset, we found a value of 2.3 to be our extrapolation. Extrapolation the action of
estimating or concluding something by assuming that existing trends will continue or a current
method will remain applicable.
Overall, we are very shocked at the outcome, especially when we first started to look at
the numbers but now that we have put into consideration all the other variables that could have
altered the data it is less shocking. For example, the people that watch hours of Netflix a day
and get good grades probably have more free time because they might not be in a job or a
sport. And if they do have a job or are in a sport than that's amazing! Some students at FHS
have sports and jobs and have less free time to watch Netflix and study. Not saying that it is
always like that but it definitely can be.