Points Estimates
An estimate is a point estimate when we use only one certain value to describe what we think about the whole population [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_estimation]
Examples
- $\bar{x}$ - sample mean, $\mu$ - population mean, $\bar{x}$ estimates $\mu$
- $\hat{p}$ - estimate of proportion, $p$ - true proportion
- $s$ - sample Standard Deviation, $\sigma$ - std of population
- etc
Point estimates are not necessarily good, but they tend to become better as we collect more data
Standard Error
Standard Error - a measure of uncertainty associated with this point estimate
Confidence Intervals
A point estimate - is a single plausible value for a parameter
- but one point is rarely enough - we’d like to have a range of plausible values
- so we typically use Confidence Intervals
See Also
Sources
- OpenIntro Statistics (book)
- http://onlinestatbook.com/2/glossary/point_estimate.html
- http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Statistics/Point_Estimates