Case study: hamline university's students' caffeine consumption correlated to affiliated stores on the university's grounds

Caffeine Fiends: An Analysis of Caffeine Consumption at Hamline University in Relation to Opinion on the Convenience of Hamline Affiliated Stores

A group of 42 Hamline students were asked if they consumed caffeine. 34, or 81%, of them, said yes. For many college students a cup of java is the cup of life, especially to the 32. 4% of them in our survey that considered themselves dependent” on caffeine and the 26. 5% of them that consider themselves “ addicted.” As we all know, caffeine revs our systems and makes it easier for us to stay up and study, get to class, and be alert at work, but could it also influence our opinions on school decisions?

We asked many questions about the students’ lifestyles for this survey, but this article will mainly be focusing on the base facts of the students’ caffeine consumption and their opinions on whether or not the hours that the Hamline Affiliated Starbucks and Leo’s Corner (both Hamline affiliated providers of caffeinated products) should be adjusted.

One may come to the assumption that, with such a caffeinated population of students, people at Hamline would demand more of their most convenient stores. 57. 1% of student that were asked thought Starbucks should adjust their hours and even less, 38. 1%, of students asked thought Leo’s Corner should adjust their hours. Of those who want change, though, who is asking for what?

6 of the 8 students who answered ” No” to the question “ Do you consume caffeine?” also answered “ No” to the question “ Should Starbucks have adjusted hours?”. This is four times more than the non-consuming population that answered “ Yes” to Starbucks adjusting their hours. 22 of those who answered “ Yes” to consuming caffeine also answered “ Yes” to the question about Starbucks adjusting their hours, as opposed to the 12 caffeine consumers that answered “ No” to Starbucks adjusting their hours. When computed with the Chisq-test, it is concluded that there is a strong correlation between whether or not one drinks coffee and whether or not Starbuck’s hours should be adjusted (this is concluded by the very small p-value given, suggesting there is almost no chance that the hypothesis stating no correlation is true.)

But what exactly do they want these new hours to be? According to the form’s summary, 58. 3% of those wanted the Starbucks to open earlier. 58. 3% of those asked wanted it to be closed later. 33. 3% wanted the store to open later. Only 8. 3% wanted it to be open 24 hours a day.

The same calculations were done with Leo’s Corner. 6 non-consumers of caffeine said “ No” to the question “ Should Leo’s Corner have adjusted hours?” and 2 non-consumers said “ Yes.” Meanwhile, 20 consumers of caffeine said “ No” to adjusting Leo’s Corner’s hours and 14 said “ Yes.”

This analysis had the largest p-value in the survey thus far. Still, the Chisq-test exclaims that, with 99% certainty, there is a relationship between consumption of caffeine and one’s opinion on whether or not Leo’s Corner should have adjusted hours.

The opinions on the adjustment of Leo’s Corner’s hours differ more greatly than the opinions on the Starbuck’s hours. 68. 8% of those asked thought it should be opened earlier, but only 6. 3% thought it should be closed later. 37. 5% of those asked thought it should be open 24 hours a day, but 6. 3% thought it should be opened later.

Most people don’t think that much about their drink when they grab their daily cup of coffee, but the fact is that caffeine is an addictive substance and can have more control over our lives than we previously believed, such as what we think should be done about the convenience stores on campus. What else is influenced by your caffeine consumption?