Lesson plan
Sampling distribution
In statistics, a sampling distribution or finite-sample distribution is the probability distribution of a given random-sample-based statistic. For an arbitrarily large number of samples where each sample, involving multiple observations (data points), is separately used to compute one value of a statistic (for example, the sample mean or sample variance) per sample, the sampling distribution is the probability distribution of the values that the statistic takes on. In many contexts, only one sample (i.e., a set of observations) is observed, but the sampling distribution can be found theoretically. Sampling distributions are important in statistics because they provide a major simplification en route to statistical inference. More specifically, they allow analytical considerations to be based on the probability distribution of a statistic, rather than on the joint probability distribution of all the individual sample values.
Article summary
In statistics, a sampling distribution or finite-sample distribution is the probability distribution of a given random-sample-based statistic. For an arbitrarily large number of samples where each sample, involving multiple observations (data points), is separately used to compute one value of a statistic (for example, the sample mean or sample variance) per sample, the sampling distribution is the probability distribution of the values that the statistic takes on. In many contexts, only one sample (i.e., a set of observations) is observed, but the sampling distribution can be found theoretically. Sampling distributions are important in statistics because they provide a major simplification en route to statistical inference. More specifically, they allow analytical considerations to be based on the probability distribution of a statistic, rather than on the joint probability distribution of all the individual sample values.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.