Biology 2244A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Statistical Inference
23 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
The population in a statistical study is the entire group of individuals (not necessarily people) about which we want information. A sample is the part of the population from which we actually collect information. We use a sample to draw conclusions about the entire population. A sampling design describes exactly how to choose a sample from the population. The first step in a proper sample design is to say exactly what population we want to describe. The second step is to say exactly what we want to measure, that is, to give exact definitions of our variables. Experiments, in particular, rarely use samples from an entire population of interest, because of practical and ethical considerations. The consequence is that conclusions from the experiment cannot always be extended to the whole intended population.
