MATH 251, Probability and Statistics I, Fall 2005, Oct. 12, Day 20 After class

Reading for Friday:   Read  3.4.  Next, 4.1, 4.2, rest of 4.
Hand in: Sec. 3.3 p. 225ff.

3.66 bias/variability
3.75 grades sample:  Take 3 SRS's and find their means: i.e. repeat part a 3 times.   To start, decide which way you'll read in Table B. Then close your eyes and put your finger  down in the table to pick your starting place.  Bring your results to class to pool, to get an idea of the "sampling distribution of the mean of an SRS of 4 grades". 
3.70 n = 61,239
3.68 Canada/U.S.

3.71 b,c (sample means for Workers) This file is not in SPSS form, though it is in Text form (Appendix folder).  Too big??  So skip part a.

3.73 Applet coin flips.  Take 5 samples, not  50, for each of parts a and b, and we'll pool them next time.  Do a dotplot instead of a histogram since you have so few points.

3.77 CSDATA (SPSS) Do with the Handout.  Find the means for each of your 5 samples, and hand in the means in a dotplot, the 6 histograms (1 population, 5 samples.), and comments.

Review: p. 247ff
3.84 study type

Read, discuss 

3.69 states

p. 247ff
3.93, 3.94, 3.95

Optional
Exams returned.  Comments, statistics.
Project * Handout: *  Preliminary report due 4pm Oct. 12, Day 20. I'll take them now... I'll email you when I've finished reading your preliminary report.  Friday in class at the latest.
Final paper 9:30 am Oct.17, Day 22.
Homework questions?  Day 19

How to take an SRS using SPSS--Handout

3.4, Toward Statistical Inference.
Chance  behavior (a random phenomenon): Unpredictable in the short run,  predictable regular pattern in the long run.
  (Random numbers:  equally likely in the long run.  "Random" in this chapter  is more general--pattern is not necessarily equally likely)
25 digits from the random number table (overhead): Individual sets of 25 show much variability.  Pooled  shows more "flatness" --but still much variability.  You would be right to be skeptical when I told you that your "pick-a-number" choices were not random, on the basis of just this class's data.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We know that a sample from a population will not exactly represent the population.  If we take a random sample, the behavior of samples will not be individually predictable, but there will be predictable pattern in many random samples from the same population.  Knowing the pattern will be  as good as we can do.
Sec. 3.4
       Sample Chosen from a  Population
          (varies)             (fixed, but usually unknown)
Calculate
Numerical summary: Statistic (Latin) Parameter(Greek letter)
    Examples:           Sample mean xbar    Population mean mu (µ)
                       Sample st. dev. s    Pop. standard dev. sigma   etc.
 

Sampling distribution of a statistic:  If we could repeat the sampling process, distribution of values for that statistic calculated from "all possible" samples (of the given size.) Assumes probability sampling or randomized experiment design.
Shape, center, spread.
Shape:  mound-shape, often normal; wouldn't want bimodal or outliers.
Center of sampling distribution should be close to parameter value:
     systematically "under-or over-estimates" = "biased estimator"
Spread (Variability):  Want "tight" (around parameter value!)

--SRS produces unbiased estimators for most common statistics.
--Larger (random) sample produces less variability (spread)
          Size of sample matters, not proportion of population (as long as population is at least 10 times sample size).

Random sampling will allow us to do inferential statistics:
  How far off are we likely to be from the parameter value = Margin of error.
  How plausible is a claim based on the data (significance level)

Next: Looking at the sampling distributions we generate; then Ch. 4, Ch. 5...


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