Populaatioparametrien

Populaatioparametrien are statistical measures that describe characteristics of an entire population. Unlike sample statistics, which are calculated from a subset of the population, population parameters represent the true values for all individuals within that population. These parameters are typically unknown and are often estimated using sample statistics.

Common examples of population parameters include the population mean (often denoted by the Greek letter mu, μ), which represents the average value of a specific variable for all members of the population. The population standard deviation (often denoted by the Greek letter sigma, σ) measures the dispersion or spread of the data around the population mean. The population proportion represents the fraction of individuals in the population that possess a certain characteristic.

Because it is often impractical or impossible to collect data from an entire population, researchers rely on inferential statistics to make educated guesses about population parameters based on sample data. The accuracy of these estimations depends on the sample size, the sampling method, and the variability within the population. Understanding the distinction between population parameters and sample statistics is fundamental to statistical inference and hypothesis testing.