Statistical Inference

Statistical inference is the process of drawing a conclusion about a population based on a sample taken from that population.

Recall:

• A parameter is a fixed number that measures a characteristic of the population from which it comes, often in practice it is unknown.
• A statistic is a number that measures a characteristic of a sample.
• To make a statistical inference, one uses a statistic to infer what the value of the parameter from the population should be.