Module 6 & 7: Summary Statistics and Estimation

Since it is practically impossible to enroll the whole target population, we take a sample - a subgroup representative of the population. Since we're not examining the whole population, inferences will not be certain. Probability is the ideal tool to model and communicate uncertainty inherent with informing the population characteristic based on a sample. Inferences are categorized into two broad categories:

1. Estimation - Estimate the value of a parameter based on a sample
2. Hypothesis Testing - Comparing parameters fir two sub-populations using tests of significance

For smaller sample sizes (n < 30) we can use a t distribution.