Question

Parameter and Statistic In a Harris Interactive survey of 2276 adults in the United States, it was found that 33% of those surveyed never travel using commercial airlines. Identify the population and sample. Is the value of 33% a statistic or a parameter?

Short answer

The population consists of all adults residing in the United States. The sample consists of the 2276 adults selected from the population of all adults. The value of 33% is a statistic.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

Out of all adults present in the United States, asurvey is conducted with 2276 adults. 33% of those adults who were surveyed never travel using commercial airlines. The following two things are to be answered:

The population and the sample need to be identified.

The value of 33% needs to be classified as a statistic or a parameter.

Population and sample

In sampling theory, the group of individuals under study is called the population. In a statistical analysis, you need to assess some important characteristics of the population.

Since a complete enumeration of the individuals present in the population is not feasible, a subset of definite size is extracted. This is called a sample. The sample characteristics are used to approximate the population characteristics.

The collection of information about the sample is done through surveys and questionnaires.

For the given problem, the group of all adults of the United States is considered to be the population, and the group of 2276 adults chosen for the survey from this population is the sample.

Parameter and statistic

Statistical measures of the population are referred to as parameters or population parameters. Mean, proportion, and standard deviation of the population are some of the population parameters.

Similarly, statistical measures computed from the sample are called sample statistics. Mean, proportion and standard deviation of the sample are some of the sample statistics.

For the given problem, the 33% adults who never travel in commercial airlines are calculated from the sample of 2276 adults. Thus, it is a statistic.