SOC222H5 Lecture Notes - Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Statistical Inference, Test Statistic
Document Summary
Estimation refers to a process whereby we select a random sample from a population and use a sample statistic to estimate a population parameter. We want to say something about the population, but we usually only have sample information. Point estimates: which is one number, like a mean. Confidence intervals: which is the bounds within which a population parameter falls. The empirical rule is very closely related to the confidence level. Before we find an interval, we have to decide at what level of confidence are we willing to make an estimate (i. e. 68%, 95%, 99%) The z-score for 95% will always be 1. 96. Only thing we can change is confidence level and standard error. But standard error is hard to change since it comes from our sample. In our example, we pretended that the standard deviation of the population was 1. 3. But we don"t usually know the mean and standard deviation of the population.
