University:
McNeese State University
Course:
MATH 231 | Elementary Probability and Statistical Inference
Academic year:

2024
Views:

475

Pages:

1
Author:

Tori K.

Math 231 1-1 An Overview of Statistics Baldwin Data consists of information coming from observations, counts, measurements, or responses. Statistics is the science of collecting, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data in order to make decisions. There are two types of data sets will use when studying statistics: • A population is the collection of all outcomes, responses, measurements, or counts that are of interest. • A sample is a subset, or part of the population. A census consists of data from an entire population. But, unless a population is small, it is usually impractical to obtain all the population data. In most studies, information must be obtained from a random sample. Ex 1: In a recent survey, 834 employees in the United States were asked if they thought their jobs were highly stressful. Of the 834 respondents, 517 said yes. Identify the population and the sample. Describe the sample data set. Population: responses Sample: responses Data Set: 5K people * 834 all - of the who 517 Yes employees of = 834 said yes employees and 317 in in who the U the U said . . S S . - no 317 no Two important terms that are used throughout this course are: • A parameter is a numerical description of a population characteristic. Ex: Average age of all people in the United States. • A statistic is a numerical description of a sample characteristic. Ex: Average age of people from a sample of three states. It is important to note that a sample statistic can differ from sample to sample, whereas a population parameter is constant for a population. 1