Parameter Estimation and Hypothesis Testing

Question 1

The term ‘population’ does not only refer to a population of people, it can also be used to describe any collection of objects that are not people, e.g. hospitals, areas or animals. TRUE or FALSE?

Answer 1

TRUE

Question 2

Can a population include future members as well as current members of said population?

Answer 2

Yes. A population can include future members as well as current members of the said population.

For example, individuals who are at risk of developing cancer (future members) as well as individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer (current members).

Question 3

Why is a sample taken of a population to be studied in research, as opposed to studying the whole population?

Answer 3

It is usually impractical or impossible to collect data on the entire (theoretical) population. So a sample which is representative of the said population can tell us about the population in its own right.

Data collected and statistically analysed from a representative sample allows us to infer about the total population of interest, telling us about the theoretical distributions (population distribution) of particular variables.

Question 4

What is a sample?

Answer 4

A sample is a group which is a subset of a specific population of interest.

Can either be specially made to be representative or random.

Question 5

The concept of theoretical population helps in determining how generalisable inferences from the data would be. TRUE or FALSE?

Answer 5

TRUE (This is a supporting point for the use of random samples).

For example, data from a UK population would not necessarily be generalisable to a similar population from China.

Question 6

Name two major characteristics of random samples.

Answer 6

1, Each individual (ideally) from a population has an equal chance of being included.
2. The inclusion of one individual should now affect the inclusion of another.

Question 7

Sometimes a specially chosen representative sample is used over a random sample of a population, for practical reasons in many neurological studies. TRUE or FALSE?

Answer 7

TRUE

Question 8

Homogeneity of variances means the same thing as the equality of variances. TRUE or FALSE?

Answer 8

TRUE

Question 9

If something is Heterogeneous it means it is different. TRUE or FALSE?

Answer 9

TRUE