Reference no: EM132846760

Joan Horton is a building contractor whose company builds many homes every year. In planning for each job, Joan needs some idea about the direct labor hours per square foot required to build a home. She has collected sample information on the labor hours for 10 jobs during the past year. Your response should be . Be sure to reference at least one scholarly source to support your answer.

Job 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Hours/sqft 245 291 353 118 152 402 351 242 595 173

Data from Excel
Sample Mean 292
Sample Median 268
Sample Variance S2 20000
Sample Standard Deviation S 141

• Describe how to calculate the sample mean for this sample? How can Joan use this information?
• Describe how to calculate the sample median from this sample. If Joan had to select the mean or the median as the estimate of direct labor hours, what factors should she consider about each statistic before making the decision?
• Describe how to calculate the sample variance and sample standard deviation. How can Joan use these values in planning future jobs?
• One of Joan's competitors, J.M. Sawyer, has numbers claiming that his crews average 350 hours per square foot, with a standard deviation of 50. Sawyer further claims that his company is more consistent in direct labor hours applied to houses than Horton's company. Who is right, and why?