5/3/2021 Apex Learning - Audio Transcript

Transcript: Summary

Well-designed sampling can give you useful information about a population of interest. If you use
random sampling, you can use the mean of your sample as a point estimate for the mean of the
population you're studying.

If you want a measure of how much your point estimate may stray from the true population mean, you
can rely on the Central Limit Theorem. The Central Limit Theorem says that if you draw many, many
samples and if each sample is large enough, your sample mean will form an approximately normal
distribution, with the same mean as the population. You need a good estimator of the population
standard deviation in order to use the Central Limit Theorem to estimate what your sampling distribution
will look like.

The Meaning of Statistical Confidence

The Central Limit Theorem allows us to state confidence levels and confidence intervals. A confidence
interval is our estimated mean plus or minus a value. This value is the margin of error. Confidence
intervals are expressed as estimate ± margin of error.

Estimate of Population Mean ± Margin of Error

A confidence interval has a theoretical probability C of containing the population mean µ, which we don't
know. That is, in repeated calculations on many samples, approximately C% of confidence intervals will
contain the population mean.

Finding Critical z-Values

You can find the critical z-value for a particular confidence level by using a standard normal probabilities
table. Here are the most common confidence levels in use.

Constructing Confidence Intervals

Often we begin with a confidence level, then we construct the confidence interval using critical z-values.
Once you have determined the critical z-values, construct your confidence interval using this formula,

https://course.apexlearning.com/public/cpop/7001002/1968329 1/2
5/3/2021 Apex Learning - Audio Transcript

where z* is the critical z-value. The quantity is called the "margin of error." Again, remember that

you need to know the population standard deviation for this to work.

https://course.apexlearning.com/public/cpop/7001002/1968329 2/2