Males rarely use the cubicles unless
the urinal is occupied. When they do, it is mostly to
take a dump. Now, in the workplace this is ever rarer, so I have decided to
conduct an experiment of sorts.
In my workplace the men’s toilets has two cubicles in it, and a urinal with enough space for 1½ people. What I would like to find out is which of the two cubicles is the most popular. As there is no way to work out why a particular cubicle is popular or not, without asking everyone leaving the toilet for their thoughts, I will suggest a few reasons why I think it may be, upon the conclusion of my experiment.
Background:
There are two cubicles in the men’s toilets on my floor at work. Therefore, there are three possibilities:
- The left-hand cubicle is visited more often than the right-hand cubicle
- The right-hand cubicle is visited more often than the left-hand cubicle
- Both cubicles are exactly as popular as one another.
Hypothesis:
The right-hand cubicle is more popular than the left-hand cubicle.
Method:
Without standing in the toilets (perhaps handing out towels and mints) and counting the number of visitors, I have decided upon a less accurate, but slightly more subtle approach. I will measure the diameter of the toilet roll periodically to see how much toilet-paper has been used. The frequency of the measurements should not matter, just as long as both rolls are measured at the same time. After 5 working days, the results should be clear enough for this experiment. All spare rolls in each cubicle will be measured as well before hand to ensure, should they be used, that precise measurements are available.
Control:
A third toilet roll will be used as the control. This roll will sit on a shelf outside the cubicles. This roll should not change in size as paper from it should not be used during the period of the experiment.
Data:
RH LH Cont
M 125 123 127
125 120 127
122 118 127
122 118 127
117 118 127
110 115 127
T 90 115 127
90 112 127
90 112 127
75 112 127
67 112 126
W 67 108 127
65 105 127
60 105 127
60 98 127
58 97 127
T 128 90 127
120 90 127
120 84 127
118 82 127
116 82 127
116 79 127
F 112 74 127
112 74 127
110 70 127
110 70 127
110 70 127
106 64 127
Results:
It turns out that the right-hand cubicle is the more popular, including a toilet roll change sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The Control roll seemed to fluctuate in size late Tuesday, but this was possibly due to ambient room temperature, or due to my having to hurry measuring it because I heard someone coming into the toilet.
Conclusion:
The right-hand cubicle is the more popular as hypothesised. This is possibly due to several circumstances, none of which can be proven without further experimentation.
Possible reasons being:
- The door into the toilets swings back and obscures the right-hand toilet door, so user may feel like it is more private than the left-hand which is in full view when you walk into the room.
- The right-hand cubicle is furthest away from the hand-basins, and therefore you don’t feel like your shoes can be scrutinised under the door by people washing their hands
- People who attended the right-hand cubicle just use a lot more toilet-paper than the ones that visited the left.