ABSTRACT
This chapter questions why sampling and inference are important to social researchers and also questions what expected frequencies are, and how to calculate them. It shows that how to calculate a chi-square value, and what to do with it once and provides the very important concept of statistical significance. The chapter covers the importance of sample size in a chi-square test and suggests how the chi-square test is based on a chi-square probability distribution. It also shows that how researchers used chi-square to study how people think about their bodies and focuses on how researchers used chi-square to study the gender gap in political ambition. The chapter concentrates on statistical inference: making a claim about a population based on information from a sample. Each inferential technique involves numerous steps, so the first time through, it will seem onerous.
