Computer Operating System Survey - Windows PC vs. Mac

This statistical research paper is to examine a sample group of computer users and reveal their personal computer experiences. The sample group was asked questions about which type of computer operating system is better and which one they currently use, Windows PC or Mac. I am a Windows PC user. I suspect the results from this research paper will show Windows PC is better than Mac, as well as more widely used than Mac.

Data was obtained by collecting a single survey of 10 questions on January 12, 2012 that was sent out through email. The 106 email respondents were from a variety of students, school personnel, professors, past business associates, and previous job employees. Questions of age ranges and gender were asked to stratify the respondents. Measures of center (mode, mean, median), variation (range, mid-range), and position (percentage) were used, as well as outliers using 2 times the standard deviation for the prices. The first chart below shows the number of males and females that responded to the survey from question number #10. Other charts such as bar, column, pie, and contingency charts were used to display the results from each individual question asked in the survey.

As you can see from the simple pie chart above, the balance between male and females is almost even with 56 male respondents and 50 female respondents. The second chart below is a contingency chart, which displays the frequency distribution and relationship between age groups. Mode was used to determine the average age of all respondents because they were not asked their exact age, but rather which age bracket they belonged in. The mode (most occurring age bracket) for age in this survey of 106 respondents ranges between 30 to 39 years. An area chart also follows showing the age groups.

With 30-39 (27.4%) as the mode, which hit the highest point of the area chart above, it displays the age brackets and reveals a tapering graph to either side of the crest representing the age groups. This area chart resembles a column, line, and bar chart because it shows the highest and lowest areas along the limits except from a mountain perspective.

The very first question that was asked in the survey was, Which Computer Operating System do you think is better? Below are two charts: percentages and a bar graph.

After the first question was asked, the above chart shows that more than half of the respondents thought the Mac operating system was better than Microsoft Windows PC. However, after asking the second question, What type of Computer Operating System do you normally use?, 65.1% of the group or 69 of the 106 respondents said they normally use a Windows PC operating system which resembles an inverse relationship (compare charts below).

The third question asked was, How many years have you been using this type of Operating System? Whether the respondent was a Mac or Windows PC user, 44.3% of the respondents answered in the bracket of 10 to 20 years.

A line graph above shows that 47 respondents said they have been using their current operating system for 10 to 20 years. Since the average age in this study is between 30 to 39 years old as shown earlier in this study, this seems to fall in line and shows that the older a respondent is the higher chance the computer user will longer reside with their current operating system.

Most users were moderately to extremely happy with their current choices of their operating system except for 9 out of the 106 surveyed, which were slightly happy to not happy at all as shown in the chart below. In addition to the chart below and the following graph, these 9 respondents that answered slightly happy to not happy at all, were all Windows PC users. Therefore, 8.5% or 9 of the total 106 respondents were unhappy with their current Windows PC. No Mac users were unhappy with their current choice of operating system.

Below, the graph shows results from question #5. Respondents were asked to rate their operating system they currently use by performance, easy to use, reliability, quality, and price. Again, most were extremely to moderately satisfied. However as shown in the graph below, 2 respondents were extremely dissatisfied with the performance and reliability of their Windows PC, while, four out of the 36 Mac respondents were extremely dissatisfied with the price.

Shown below is the final question about the overall satisfaction of either operating system.  Respondents could only answer one final choice about their overall satisfaction. For the slightly dissatisfied to extremely dissatisfied, there was now 10 total Windows PC users. This finally resulted to 9.4% or 10 of the total 106 respondents dissatisfied with Windows PC.

The group was also asked the date and price in which they bought their current operating system. The response for the oldest year was 1998 and the most recent date was 2012, which results in the range (span) of 14 years for computers purchased within this survey. For the price responses from the 106 surveyed, the price list was filtered, then sub-divided (stratified) into two separate groups. The price a respondent paid for a Windows PC as one group (69 responses), and the price paid for a Mac as the other group (35 responses). After entering all the prices for only the Windows PC into the TI-83 plus Statistics calculator, here are the results.

Filtered results:

Data was collected only for Windows PC responses (Questions #2 and #8):

#2. What type of Computer Operating System do you normally use?

#8. Please enter the full price that you paid for this computer?

Windows PC Statistical results from 69 Price entries:

n = 69 (responses)

Total sum: $66,562

Mean = $964

SD (Standard Deviation – Sx sample) = 763

Lowest price = $100

Q1 = $500

Q2 (median) = $770

Q3 = $1100

Highest price = $4000

Midrange = $2050

Range = $3500

Variance = Sx * Sx = 763 * 763 = 582,169

 

25 total Unusual values found by using formula (mean + or – (2 * Standard Deviation)):

Lower outliers:   < | 964 – (2 * 763) = -562 using absolute value of |-562| is positive $562.

21 responses = lower outliers for Windows PC prices < $562 ranged from $100 – $550.

Upper outliers:   > | 964 + (2 * 763) = $2490

4 upper outliers > $2490 ranged from $2500 – $4000.

 

Results from entering the prices for Mac into the TI-83 plus Statistics calculator.

Filtered results:

Data was collected only for Mac responses (Questions #2 and #8).

#2. What type of Computer Operating System do you normally use?

#8. Please enter the full price that you paid for this computer?

Mac Statistical results from 35 Price entries:

n = 35 (responses)

Total sum: $61,179

Mean = $1748

SD (Standard Deviation – Sx sample) = 936

Lowest price = $500

Q1 = $1200

Q2 (median) = $1500

Q3 = $2000

Highest price = $5000

Midrange = $2750

Range = $4500

Variance = Sx * Sx = 936 * 936 = 876,096

 

2 total Unusual values found by using formula (mean + or – (2 * Standard Deviation)):

Lower outliers:   < | 1748 – (2 * 936) = -124 using absolute value of |-124| is positive $124.

Since the minimum price paid for a Mac was $500 there were NO lower outliers  < $124.

Upper outliers:   > | 1748 + (2 * 936) = $3620

2 responses =  only 2 upper outliers  > $3620 which were $4000 and $5000.

 

*All price statistics were obtained by using the TI-83 plus STATS calculator

 

Below, both price groups were then put into a table for cross comparison of price differences.

Conclusion

The hypothesis of Windows PC as more widely used turned out to be correct. However, as shown earlier, surprisingly 53.8% or 57 people out of the 106 surveyed unpredictably responded that they thought Mac was better than Windows PC. I did not expect to get this kind of response for this survey. What’s even more unexpected after closer examining the 57 responses, 24 out of those 57 people (almost half) that said Mac was better, also said they normally use a Windows PC. This survey also reveals that some Window PC users were dissatisfied with their current operating system, whereas Mac users were very satisfied with their operating system.

Reasons why these results would be different from the entire population is because the group surveyed is just a small sample and does not include many other huge user groups contained on the entire planet. For example, technology and innovation entails programmers, graphics for websites, games, advertising, applications, etc. What type of operating system do these individual users actually use or prefer? Therefore, this group of 106 computer users surveyed could be very different from the entire population in the world, or even very different from just a large user group such as graphical engineers that only use Adobe on Mac.

This study could additionally be improved by changing the way some of the questions were asked. For example, question #9, (Which category below includes your age?) could be changed to: Please enter your age. This would allow me to get the exact average age as well as create a new contingency chart that includes different age classes that would also allow me to find the midpoints of each class. From there, I could then find the frequency of each class, which would also reveal a second list, which could additionally be used for further calculations and deeper investigation. The same process could be done with some of the other questions asked.

Here are the questions that were asked in the survey:

10 Survey Questions:

1. Which Computer Operating System do you think is better?

2. What type of Computer Operating System do you normally use?

3. How many years have you been using this type of Operating System?

4. How happy are you with the choice of your current Operating System?

5. Please rate the following categories for the Operating System that you currently use?

6. Overall, are you satisfied with your current Operating System, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with it, or dissatisfied with it?

7. Approximately, what date did you purchased this computer?

8. Please enter the full price that you paid for this computer?

9. Which category below includes your age?

10. What is your gender?

* All graphs were created by surveymonkey as well as created on nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph. *

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