So I have test scores (from our most recent test) from all of the students in my class. I have been asked to find the mean and standard deviation of this data, which I have done. My question is, would the mean of this data be considered a population mean or sample mean? Can it be argued both ways?
2007-07-04 17:31:19 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
If your goal is find to the mean of the whole class, then you result is a population mean.
Depends on your goal, say if you want to find the mean of your whole school, then your result is a sample mean.
2007-07-04 17:37:58 · answer #1 · answered by espms290 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a population mean and also a sample mean. Population of the whole class but there will be many such classes across many schools and colleges all over the country and all over the world. So, your class population is a sample of a bigger population.
If you were trying to describe the behavior of a large group of students based on your class, treat the class population as a sample. If you are trying to describe the class behavior, treat it as population.
2007-07-04 17:42:30 · answer #2 · answered by Swamy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes it can be argued both ways.
If the population is your class, then you have found the population mean.
If the population is all students who have taken the exact same test, then you have found a sample mean.
Most likely, you are dealing with a population mean in this case because I am assuming that only your class has taken this exact test.
2007-07-04 17:37:48 · answer #3 · answered by whitesox09 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1.96*8.4/Sqrtn < 2 gives the answer n = 68
2016-05-18 04:14:36 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋