By: Dr. Shivi Bhasin (Lecturer, SOS in Zoology and Biotechnology,
Vikram University, Ujjain)
For: B.Sc. (Hons) Biotechnology, 1st Semester, Paper 4th, Unit 3rd.
PARAMETERS AND STATISTIC
INTRODUCTION: Parameter and statistic are closely related terms that
are important for determination of the sample size, it is very important to
understand the two terms and the difference between them. Parameters
are numbers that summarize data for entire population whereas, statistics
are numbers that summarize data from a sample i.e. some subset of the
entire population.
PARAMETER: It is a measure of a characteristic of an entire population
(mass of all units under consideration sharing common characteristics)
based on all the elements within that population. For example all people
living in a city, all male teenagers of world and all items in a shopping
bag.
STATISTICS: Statistics may be defined as a measure of characteristic
saying something about a fraction ( a sample) of population under study.
A sample in statistic is a part or portion of a population. The goal is to
estimate a certain population parameter. One can draw multiple samples
from a given population and the statistic (result) will be obtained
depending on the samples. So, using data about a sample or portion allows
one to estimate the characteristics of entire population. For example
estimation of average height of women older than 20 years of age,
estimating amount of sodium consumed by children under the age of 10
years.
PARAMETER VS STATISTICS: Difference between parameter and
statistics can be understood in the following manne-
