Populations and Samples

Populations and Samples is a part of the VCE Further Maths topic Data Analysis and subtopic Investigating Data Distributions.

This post looks at the distinction between a population parameter and a sample statistic and the use of the sample statistic to estimate the population parameter. A population parameter is a descriptive measure for an entire population, for example population size (N). This is compared to a sample statistic, which is a number or descriptive statistic derived from a section of a population.

So What is the Difference?

The following two videos will answer all your questions. Part 1 looks specifically at populations and samples, while Part 2 compares a statistic and a parameter, and a population and a sample.