Population Parameter

Population parameters, also termed population characteristics, are numerical expressions summarizing various aspects of the entire population. One common example is the population mean,

where F; is some characteristic of interest observed from the element i in the population of size N. Means, medians, proportions, and totals may be classified as descriptive parameters, while there are parameters measuring relationships, such as differences in descriptive parameters, correlation, and regression coefficients.

Although population parameters are sometimes considered unobservable, they are taken to be fixed and potentially measurable quantities using survey statistics. This is because sampling statistics are developed for well-specified finite populations that social science studies attempt to examine and that the population parameters depend on all elements in the population. Before any sort of data collection, population parameters ...