Bolum Manufacturing runs three shifts in their production plant. Industrial Engineers at the plant have documented more errors on their third shift than on the other two shifts. They believe the problem is caused by sleep deprivation and want to identify possible solutions. To evaluate their belief that sleep deprivation is the issue, they have brought in sleep researchers to test the impact of REM sleep deprivation on the computerized assembly line tasks these workers complete. Selected third shift employees will participate in two nights of testing their sleep patterns prior to coming to work. On each night of testing employees involved are allowed a total of 4 hours of sleep. Testing conditions are counterbalanced so that half Of the employees experience REM deprivation on the first night of testing and half experience REM deprivation on the second night of testing. F ach employee after the sleep session is required to complete a computerized assembly line task. The task involves five rows Of widgets slowly passing across the computer screen. Randomly placed on a one/five ratio are widgets missing a component that must be "fixed" by the employee. The number of missed widgets is recorded. Is the REM sleep deprivation making a significant difference?

Work Error in REM condition (per night tested)
REM deprived REM Ccontrol
1 26 20
2 15 4
3 8 9
4 44 36
5 26 20
6 13 3
7 38 25
8 24 10
9 17 6
10 29 14