HTHSCI 2S03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Type I And Type Ii Errors, Statistical Inference, Null Hypothesis

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: HTHSCI 2S03
• Professor: D R.fisher

Document Summary

Inferential statistics: used to determine the probability (or likelihood) that a conclusion based on analysis of data from a sample is true. Any measurement based on a sample of ppl will differ from the true value by some amount as a result of random processes. Goal of inferential statistics is to be highly specific about the chances in statistics. Random sampling enhances the chances that generalization will be successful. Define a population of interest & then draw a sample, hopefully @ random - this is the root of inferential statistics. The sample describes those individuals who are in the study; population describes the hypothetical (and usually) infinite # of ppl to whom you wish to generalize. P value is the likelihood that the difference could arise by chance. Sample values are labelled with roman letters and population values are greek letters. Critical value, decision regions & type 1 error.