Question: A higher-education management consultant wanted to see whether a university computer help desk had sufficient resources to assist faculty with computer problems. The consultant randomly sampled 200 faculty, and found their waiting times on the phone had an average of 15 minutes and a standard deviation of 5 minutes. To determine the factors that influence waiting time, he estimated a multiple regression model finding: where: The numbers in parentheses are the standard errors for the corresponding coefficient estimates
Wait = 45 - 1.2*Lines - 7*Staff
(.8) (3.2)
Wait = waiting time in minutes
Lines = the number of phone lines available
Staff = the usual number of staff working at the help desk
a. Interpret the coefficient estimates.
b. You are 95% sure the average waiting time is between what lower and upper bound?
c. What is the probability we would see a regression estimate of the impact of number of phone lines on waiting time as large as the one we saw if this variable really had no effect on waiting times?