Learning goals
- Apply a statistical definition to the word random.
- Distinguish between a sample and a population.
- Distinguish between a statistic and a parameter.
In the next preview assignment and in the next class, you will need to identify the difference between a sample and a population, as well as understand why a random sample is needed to make inferences about a population. Prepare for that in this corequisite support activity by exploring uses of the word random and practicing using the terms sample and population, and statistic and parameter.
The Word Random
Question 1
Choose the best meaning for random in this sentence:
“Sometimes I say random things to my friend.”
- a) Haphazard, weird, out of the ordinary
- b) Without order or pattern
- c) Without prior knowledge, criteria, or method
- d) By chance
- e) Without bias
Question 2
Discuss the best meaning for random in the following sentence. How is the meaning different than in Question 1?
“A group of participants was selected using a simple random sample for the survey.”
The use of the word random in everyday language might be like saying:
”I saw a random person with a cat on his head in New York.”
The word random in statistics is used to describe things like objects pulled from a hat—every object has an equal chance of being selected.
Let’s try to discern the uses of the word random one more time. This time, you come up with a sentence that uses random in a non-statistical and a statistical way.
Question 3
3) What is an everyday use of the word random? What image can you think of?
question 4
4) What is another way to think about the use of the word random in statistics? What image can you can think of?
