# Best method of estimating the output rate of a group

I have a sample dataset consisting of 2 fields, output volume and input time (in hours) for different persons performing an identical task several times each.

What is the best method of estimating the average output per hour of the group?

Are there any checks to perform on the sample dataset to evaluate the reliability and validity of the estimate obtained?

This would mainly be used for forecasting and capacity planning.

Thank you

• Can people be considered indepent? – Dimitriy V. Masterov Sep 11 '14 at 15:08

If the output volume for i-th person is $V_i$ while the input time is $t_i$, the average output per hour is $\sum_i V_i \over \sum_i t_i$ .
If the median of $\sum_i V_i \over \sum_i t_i$ is far from $V_i \over t_i$, this means that the average output per hour is so big/so small due to few people who are either much more productive or much less productive than others.
You may also look at the distribution of $V_i \over t_i$ and examine the variance.