ABSTRACT
In Chapter 6, Theory and methods of statistical sampling, we discussed statistical sampling for the purpose of obtaining information about a population. This chapter expands upon this to use sampling to estimate, or infer, population parameters based entirely on the sample data. By its very nature, estimating is probabilistic as there is no certainty of the result. However, if the sample experiment is correctly designed then there should be a reasonable confidence about conclusions that are made. Thus from samples we might, with confidence, estimate the mean weight of airplane passengers for fuel-loading purposes, the proportion of the population expected to vote Republican, or the mean value of inventory in a distribution center.
