1. Reaction Times for Males Vs Females

2. Problem
Do males reaction times tend to be faster than females reaction times in Australian year 10 student?

3. Plan
I plan to download 60 pieces of data from census at school. I may need to do this more than once as sometimes there are gaps in the data or errors which either need filling or replacing.
Once I have collected my data I will construct a comparative dot plot and use it to produce a comparative box and whisker graph. I will carry out analysis using these graphs and other appropriate statistics which will help me to draw a conclusion about my problem.

4. Data
The data comes from the Australian census at school website and as such would be expected to be a representative of all students attending year 10 in Australia.

5. Analysis

6. Analysis
I notice that the males have a slightly faster median than the females. The males median is 0.31 seconds and the females median is 0.32 seconds. A difference of 0.01 seconds. [Centre]
I notice the shape of the females is more ‘belled shaped’ than the males which is more uniformly distributed. The females data is slightly skewed to the right as a result of a few larger reaction times. [Shape]

7. Analysis
I notice the males have a much larger range or spread than the females. The males have the slowest reaction time of 1.4 seconds and the fastest reaction time of less than 0.1 seconds. The inter-quartile range for the males is also larger for the males than of the females. The males IQR is 0.15 seconds and the females IQR is 0.1 seconds. [SPREAD].
Finally I notice that there is an outlier for the males of 1.4 seconds. This is either an incorrect data entry or the student wasn’t paying attention during the measurement process. [Unusual]

8. Conclusion
The reaction times for females and males are similar. It is too close to call if males are in fact faster than females even though from my sample the mean and median suggest they are. If I were to do another sample the medians (and/or the mean) could swap places. I predict that for year 10 Australians the mean and median reaction time for males and females is very similar.

9. Evaluation
For this experiment it would be good to repeat the process and sample another 20 males and females. Based on this investigation and common sense it is a safe bet that both categories will have similar reaction times. (Explains you are making a prediction about the population) This data is taken from secondary school students it would be interesting to compare this data with middle aged people and also senior citizens. The results from this investigation could be used to investigate a maximum driving age limit.