Sampling Distributions I: Confidence

Overview

You have been studying a strategy for data collection which involves the use of randomization. At first glance, it might seem that this deliberate introduction of uncertainty would only compound the problem of drawing reliable conclusions from the data collected. On the contrary, you will discover that the randomness actually produces very predictable long-term patterns of variation. The knowledge of these long-term patterns of variation forms the basis for using sample results to draw inferences about populations.