You work for an office supplies retailer. Your speciality is writing utensils (i.e. pencils, pens, markers). Your supervisor wants to order more markers for the retail store, and has tasked you with deciding which brands to purchase.
To be scientific, you design a study that will provide you with a variety of data upon which you can make your choices. From each of the five (5) major brands of markers, you obtain a large quantity of markers. You then put the markers through a series of ‘tests’ as follows:
- Writing duration: For 20 markers from each brand, you use a machine that continuously writes with the markers to determine how much time (in hours) elapses until the marker no longer writes.
- Line width: For 20 markers from each brand, you draw a straight line, and measure the width of the line (in millimetres)
- Smoothness: For 20 markers of each brand, you write the word ‘hello’, and then rate how smooth it is to use the marker on a scale from 5 = marker never snags or bumps to 1 = marker causes a lot of friction while writing
- Point resilience: For 20 markers of each brand, determine whether the marker point becomes visibly damaged when pressed down on paper for five seconds.
- Leakage: For 20 markers of each brand, evaluate whether the marker leaks when placed point down in a warm pocket for five minutes.
