TWO DEFINITIONS OF STATISTICS

1. Statistics is the science of collecting, organizing, and interpreting

data.

2. Statistics are the data that describe or summarize something.

WHAT IS (ARE) STATISTICS?

There are two answers, because the term statistics can be either
singular or plural.
When it is singular, statistics refers to the science of statistics. The
science of statistics helps us collect, organize, and interpret data, which
are numbers or other pieces of information about some topic.
When it is plural, the word statistics refers to the data themselves,
especially those that describe or summarize something. For example, if
there are 30 students in your class and they range in age from 17 to 64,
the numbers “30 students,” “17 years,” and “64 years” are statistics that
describe your class.

Definition of Data

You’ll sometimes hear the word data used as a singular

synonym for information, but technically the word data is
plural. One piece of information is called a datum, and two or
more pieces are called data.

DEFINITIONS OF POPULATION AND SAMPLE

POPULATION
 The population in a statistical study is the complete set of people
or things being studied.

SAMPLE

The sample is the subset of the population from which the raw
data are actually obtained.

POPULATION PARAMETERS

Population parameters are specific characteristics of the

population that a statistical study is designed to estimate.

SAMPLE STATISTICS

Sample statistics are numbers or observations that summarize the

raw data.

EXAMPLE: POPULATION AND SAMPLE

For each of the following cases, describe the population, sample,

population parameters, and sample statistics.

a. Agricultural inspectors for Jefferson County measure the levels

of residue from three common pesticides on 25 ears of corn from each of
the 104 corn producing farms in the county.
b. Anthropologists determine the average brain size of early
Neanderthals in Europe by studying skulls found at three sites in
southern Europe.

SOLUTION
 a. The inspectors seek to learn about the population of all ears of
corn grown in the county. They do this by studying a sample that
consists of 25 ears from each farm. The population parameters are the
average levels of residue from the three pesticides on all corn grown in
the county. The sample statistics describe the average levels of residue
that are actually measured on the corn in the sample.
b. The anthropologists seek to learn about the population of all
early Neanderthals in Europe. Specifically, they seek to determine the
average brain size of all Neanderthals, which is the population parameter
in this case. The sample consists of the relatively few individual
Neanderthals whose skulls are found at the three sites. The sample
statistic is the average brain size (skull size) of the individuals in the
sample.

BASIC STEPS IN A STATISTICAL STUDY

1. State the goal of your study precisely. That is, determine the
population you want to study and exactly what you’d like to learn
about it.
2. Choose a representative sample from the population.
3. Collect raw data from the sample and summarize these data by
finding sample statistics of interest.
4. Use the sample statistics to infer the population parameters.
5. Draw conclusions: Determine what you learned and whether you
achieved your goal.
START

1. Identify Goal

2. Draw from Population

POPULATION SAMPLE

5. Draw Conclusions 3. Collect raw data

and Summarize

4. Make Inference
POPULATION SAMPLE
PARAMETERS STATISTICS
 about Population

ELEMENTS OF A STATISTICAL STUDY

EXAMPLE: UNEMPLOYMENT SURVEY

Each month, the U.S. Labor Department surveys 60,000

households to determine characteristics of the U.S. work force. One
population parameter of interest is the U.S. unemployment rate, defined
as the percentage of people who are unemployed among all those who
are either employed or actively seeking employment. Describe how the
Five basic steps of a statistical study apply to this research?

SOLUTION

The steps apply as follows.

Step 1. The goal of the research is to learn about the employment (or
unemployment) within the population of all Americans who are either
employed or actively seeking employment.
Step 2. The Labor Department chooses a sample consisting of people
employed or seeking employment in 60,000 households.

Step 3. The Labor Department asks questions of the people in the

sample, and their responses constitute the raw data for the research. The
Department then consolidates these data into sample statistics, such as
the percentage of people in the sample who are unemployed.

Step 4. Based on the sample statistics, the Labor Department makes

estimates of the corresponding population parameters, such as the
unemployment rate for the entire United States.
Step 5. The Labor Department draws conclusions based on the
population parameters and other information. For example, it might use
the current and past unemployment rates to draw conclusions about
whether jobs have been created or lost.

DEFINITIONS OF REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE AND

SIMPLE RANDOM SAMPLES

A representative sample is a sample in which the relevant

characteristics of the sample members match those of the population.

A sample drawn with a computer program that selects students at

random is an example of a simple random sample.

More technically, simple random sampling means that every

sample of a particular size has the same chance of being selected.

In the case of the student sample, every set of 100 students has
an equal chance of being selected by the computer program. Simple
random sampling is usually the best way to choose a
representative sample. However, it is not always practical or
necessary, so other sampling techniques are sometimes used.

COMMON SAMPLING METHODS

Simple random sampling:

We choose a sample of items in such a way that every sample of

a given size has an equal chance of being selected.

Systematic sampling:

We use a simple system to choose the sample, such as selecting

every 10th or every 50th member of the population.
 Convenience sampling:

We use a sample that is convenient to select, such as people

who happen to be in the same classroom.

Stratified sampling:

We use this method when we are concerned about differences

among subgroups, or strata, within a population. We first identify the
subgroups and then draw a simple random sample within each
subgroup. The total sample consists of all the samples from the
individual subgroups.

Regardless of what type of sampling is used, always keep the

following two key ideas in mind:

• No matter how a sample is chosen, the study can be successful

only if the sample is representative of the population.

• Even if a sample is chosen in the best possible way, it is still just

a sample (as opposed to the entire population). Thus, we can never
be sure that a sample is representative of the population. In
general, a larger sample is more likely to be representative of the
population, as long as it is chosen well.

EXAMPLE: SAMPLING METHODS

Identify the type of sampling used in each of the

following cases, and comment on whether the sample is
likely to be representative of the population.
A. You are conducting a survey of students in a dormitory. You
choose your sample by knocking on the door of every 10th room.

B. To survey opinions on a possible property tax increase, a

research firm randomly draws the addresses of 150 homeowners
from a public list of all homeowners.

C. Agricultural inspectors for Jefferson County check the levels

of residue from three common pesticides on 25 ears of corn from
each of the 104 corn-producing farms in the county.

D. Anthropologists determine the average brain size of early

Neanderthals in Europe by studying skulls found at three sites in
southern Europe.

SOLUTIONS

A. Choosing every 10th room makes this a systematic sample.

The sample may be representative, as long as students were
randomly assigned to rooms.
B. The records presumably list all homeowners, so drawing
randomly from this list produces a simple random sample. It
has a good chance of being representative of the population.
C. Each farm may have different pesticide use, so the inspectors
consider corn from each farm as a subgroup (stratum) of the
full population. By checking 25 ears of corn from each of the
104 farms, the inspectors are using stratified sampling. If the
ears are collected randomly on each farm, each set of 25 is
likely to be representative of its farm.
D. By studying skulls found at selected sites, the anthropologists
are using a convenience sample. They have little choice,
because only a few skulls remain from the many Neanderthals
who once lived in Europe. However, it seems reasonable to
assume that these skulls are representative of the larger
population.