Statistics 1 Flashcards
(124 cards)
Define population
Whole set of items of interest
Define census
Observation/measure of every member of the population
Name of the sampling units used for sampling from census?
Parameters
Define sample
Selection of observation from a subset of population in order to discover information about the population in its entirety
Name of sampling units used for sampling from sample?
Statistics
Advantage of a census?
-Completely accurate result obtained ( ie. everyone’s views recorded), giving true measure of population.
Disadvantages of a census?
-Time-consuming, labour-intensive and expensive
-Hard to contact whole population if applicable.
-Not used when testing involves the destruction of the item
-Hard to process large quantity of data
Advantages of a sample?
-Less-time consuming, labour-intensive and expensive
-If applicable, more easy to contact whole population
-Fewer people required to respond
-Less data to be processed
Disadvantages of a sample
-Data could be inaccurate
-Sample could not be large enough to inform of whole population by small sub-groups used
Correlation between a sample size and the validity of conclusions of the processed data.
Larger size of sample usually increases the validity of the conclusions of the processed data.
Unless using non-random sampling, requirement of sample?
To be random.
What does the size of a sample depend on.
-Accuracy required
-Resources available
Why is larger sample typically more accurate.
Larger proportion of data examined, more likely to be representative of population.
If population is very varied (heterogeneous)?
Size of sample required would be larger than that of a uniform (homogeneous) population.
Different samples can…
Lead to different conclusions due to the natural variation of a population.
Define sampling units.
The individual units of a population available for sampling.
Define sampling frame.
Where sampling units are individually named/numbered to form a list.
Criteria (generally) for representative sampling?
-Usage of random sampling method
-Typically, large sample size.
What is a biased sample?
One that does not accurately reflect the population, and perhaps favours a proportion of population over another.
How can you assess if a sample could be biased?
-Sample excludes people (based on age/gender/different interests (sweet sample outside of sweet shop) or habits (sport sampling at a sports centre) etc.)
-Sometimes, a small sample is likely to be biased.
If a sample is biased, what then can occur?
A sample unrepresentative of a population can lead in a sampling error.
Conclusion of data, on whole/average =x. Use data to agree/disagree with statement.
Steps
-Mean of data?
-Median of data?
-Presence of anomalies?
-Thus, mean/median better
(mean affected, median not)
-Hence, validity of data…
Define random sampling.
Where every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for sampling (each sampling unit chosen by chance for sampling).
Thus, the sample performed under the methods of random sampling should be…
More representative of the population.