POLI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Central Limit Theorem, Linear Regression, Confidence Interval

• School: McGill University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLI 210
• Professor: Dietlind Stolle

Document Summary

Our statistics are derived from samples of data. We usually care about samples only insofar as they tell us something about the population as a whole. The process of making probabilistic statements about a population characteristic based on our knowledge of sample characteristics. The act of generalizing from a sample to a population with calculated degree o certainty. We want to learn about population parameter by using data statistics. Statistical inference is possible due to central theorem. A plausible range of values for the population parameter is called a confidence interval. A range of values and feeling confident that the answer is between a certain range. For ex: we are 95% sure that people in poli 210 class have between 700-900 friends on. With the interval we can say that we are 95% confident that we have capture the true parameter. About 95% of those intervals will contain the true population mean.