Idea of Statistical Inference
Use a subset of observations (sample) to learn something about the population
Data Generating Process
abbr. DGP
A process that generates data (sample)
The process can be described by a probability distribution
Sampling fluctuations
The sample is like a random variable
Inference is subject to sampling fluctuations
Understanding implications of sampling fluctuations lies at the heart of statistical inference
Two components of statistical inference
Obtain estimator (a statistic!, learn about unknown population parameter (which is fixed), it’s results is a random variable, takes different values depending on the sample)
Conduct hypothesis tests (compare estimates
Last changed2 years ago