Time required to complete a task. When asked, “How much time will you require to complete this task?”, cognitive theory posits that people will typically underestimate the time required. Would the opposite theory hold if the question was phrased in terms of how much work could be completed in a given amount of time? This was the question of interest to researchers writing in Applied Cognitive LO9 Psychology (Vol. 25, 2011). For one study conducted by the researchers, each in a sample of 40 University of Oslo students was asked how many minutes it would take to read a 32-page report. In a second study, 42 students were asked how many pages of a lengthy report they could read in 48 minutes. (The students in either study did not actually read the report.) Numerical descriptive statistics (based on summary information published in the article) for both studies are provided in the accompanying table.
Estimated Time (minutes)
Estimated Number of Pages Sample size, n 40 42 Sample mean, x 60 28 Sample standard deviation, s 41 14

a. The researchers determined that the actual mean time it takes to read the report is m = 48 minutes. Is there evidence to support the theory that the students, on average, will overestimate the time it takes to read the report? Test using a = .10.

b. The researchers also determined that the actual mean number of pages of the report that is read within the allotted time is m = 32 pages. Is there evidence to support the theory that the students, on average, will underestimate the number of report pages that can be read?
Test using a = .10.

c. The researchers noted that the distributions of both estimated time and estimated number of pages are highly skewed (i.e., not normally distributed). Does this fact affect the inferences derived in parts a and b? Explain.