Question

What is the difference between a parameter and a statistic? Describe an example. Finally, there are “adjustments” that statisticians make to statistics to make them better represent the parameter, discuss what this looks like with the standard deviation.

Answer 1

A parameter is a value that describes some aspect of a population. A parameter may be very difficult to determine if not impossible, especially in a large population. This is where samples and statistics come into play.

A statistic is a value that is an estimate of a parameter. A statistic is based on a sample. It is calculated from a sample taken from a population.Sampling is a way to collect information or data about a population without actually counting or measuring every individual in the population.Sampling is often necessary since it is often impossible to measure or count every individual within a population since populations are often large and it may be hard to find every individual.

A researcher wants to know the average weight of females aged 22 years or older in India. The researcher obtains the average weight of 54 kg, from a random sample of 40 females. In the given situation, the statistics are the average weight of 54 kg, calculated from a simple random sample of 40 females, in India while the parameter is the mean weight of all females aged 22 years or older.