BIOL 300 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Level Of Measurement, Snakebite, Probability Distribution
Document Summary
Measuring properties of living things is a challenge because: no two individuals of a population are exactly alike, can"t measure everyone in a population due to time constraint and limited funding. Measuring properties of living things are done through a sample of individuals drawn from the population. Sampling brings uncertainty to the measurements because properties of the sample are not the same as the true values in the population. Statistics- technology that describes and measures aspects of nature from samples; makes it possible to quantify the uncertainty in measures. Estimation- process of inferring an unknown quantity of a target population using only sample data: estimation allows us to assess differences between groups and relationship between variables. Parameter- quantity describing a population; the truth ; ex. averages, proportions, measures of variation, measures of relationship etc. Estimate- related quantity calculated from a sample; approximation of the truth, subject to error .
