Modeling the Distribution of Sample Proportions • Rather than showing real repeated samples, imagine what would happen if we were to actually draw many samples. • Now imagine what would happen if we looked at the sample proportions for these samples. What would the histogram of all the sample proportions look like? Modeling the Distribution of Sample Proportions (cont.) Modeling the Distribution of Sample Proportions (cont.) • We would expect the histogram of the sample proportions to center at the true proportion, p, in the population. • As far as the shape of the histogram goes, we can simulate a bunch of random samples that we didn’t really draw. • It turns out that the histogram is unimodal, symmetric, and centered at p. • More specifically, it’s an amazing and fortunate fact that a Normal model is just the right one for the histogram of sample proportions. • To use a Normal model, we need to specify its mean and standard deviation. The mean of this particular Normal is at p. Modeling the Distribution of Sample Proportions (cont.) Modeling the Distribution of Sample Proportions (cont.) • When working with proportions, knowing the mean automatically gives us the standard deviation as well—the standard pq deviation we will use is • A picture of what we just discussed is as follows: n • So, the distribution of the sample proportions is modeled with a probability model that is ⎛ pq ⎞ N ⎜⎜ p, ⎝ ⎟ n ⎟⎠ 1 Assumptions and Conditions How Good Is the Normal Model? • The Normal model gets better as a good model for the distribution of sample proportions as the sample size gets bigger. • Just how big of a sample do we need? This will soon be revealed… • • Most models are useful only when specific assumptions are true. There are two assumptions in the case of the model for the distribution of sample proportions: 1. The sampled values must be independent of each other. 2. The sample size, n, must be large enough. Assumptions and Conditions (cont.) Assumptions and Conditions (cont.) • Assumptions are hard—often impossible—to check. That’s why we assume them. • Still, we need to check whether the assumptions are reasonable by checking conditions that provide information about the assumptions. • The corresponding conditions to check before using the Normal to model the distribution of sample proportions are the 10% Condition and the Success/Failure Condition. 1. 10% condition: If sampling has not been made with replacement, then the sample size, n, must be no larger than 10% of the population. ( N > 10n ) 2. Success/failure condition: The sample size has to be big enough so that both np and nq are greater than 10. Assumptions and Conditions (cont.) Example: A candy company claims that 25% of the jelly beans in its spring mix are pink. Suppose that the candies are packaged at random in small bags containing about 300 jelly beans. A class of students opens several bags, counts the various colors of jelly beans, and calculates the proportion that are pink in each bag. Is it appropriate to use a Normal model to describe the distribution of the proportion of pink jelly beans? A Normal model is appropriate Randomization condition is satisfied the 300 jelly beans in the bag are selected at random and can be considered representative of all jelly beans 10% condition is satisfied the sample size, 300, is less than 10% of the population of all jelly beans. success/failure condition is satisfied np = 300(0.25) = 75 and nq = 300(0.75) = 225 are both greater than 10 So, we need a large enough sample that is not too large. A Sampling Distribution Model for a Proportion • A proportion is no longer just a computation from a set of data. – It is now a random quantity that has a distribution. – This distribution is called the sampling distribution model for proportions. • Even though we depend on sampling distribution models, we never actually get to see them. – We never actually take repeated samples from the same population and make a histogram. We only imagine or simulate them. 2 A Sampling Distribution Model for a Proportion (cont.) • Still, sampling distribution models are important because – they act as a bridge from the real world of data to the imaginary world of the statistic and – enable us to say something about the population when all we have is data from the real world. The Sampling Distribution Model for a Proportion (cont.) • Provided that the sampled values are independent and the sample size is large enough, the sampling distribution of pˆ is modeled by a Normal model with – Mean: μ pˆ = p – Standard deviation: σ pˆ = The Sampling Distribution Model for a Proportion (cont.) Example: Assume that 25% of students at a university wear contact lenses. We randomly pick 200 students. What is the probability that more than 28% of this sample wear contact lenses? Conditions: • Randomization is satisfied • N > 10(200) • np = 200(0.25) = 50 ≥ 10 • nq = 200(0.75) = 150 ≥ 10 z= 0.28 − 0.25 ( 0.25)( 0.75) = 0.164 0.03 = 0.9798 0.03062 pq n What About Quantitative Data? • Proportions summarize categorical variables. • The Normal sampling distribution model looks like it will be very useful. • Can we do something similar with quantitative data? • We can indeed. Even more remarkable, not only can we use all of the same concepts, but almost the same model. 200 Simulating the Sampling Distribution of a Mean • Like any statistic computed from a random sample, a sample mean also has a sampling distribution. • We can use simulation to get a sense as to what the sampling distribution of the sample mean might look like… Means – The “Average” of One Die • Let’s start with a simulation of 10,000 tosses of a die. A histogram of the results is: 3 Means – Averaging More Dice • Looking at the average of two dice after a simulation of 10,000 tosses: • The average of three dice after a simulation of 10,000 tosses looks like: Means – What the Simulations Show • As the sample size (number of dice) gets larger, each sample average is more likely to be closer to the population mean. – So, we see the shape continuing to tighten around 3.5 • And, it probably does not shock you that the sampling distribution of a mean becomes Normal. The Fundamental Theorem of Statistics (cont.) • The CLT is surprising and a bit weird: – Not only does the histogram of the sample means get closer and closer to the Normal model as the sample size grows, but this is true regardless of the shape of the population distribution. • The CLT works better (and faster) the closer the population model is to a Normal itself. It also works better for larger samples. Means – Averaging Still More Dice • The average of 5 dice after a simulation of 10,000 tosses looks like: • The average of 20 dice after a simulation of 10,000 tosses looks like: The Fundamental Theorem of Statistics • The sampling distribution of any mean becomes Normal as the sample size grows. – All we need is for the observations to be independent and collected with randomization. – We don’t even care about the shape of the population distribution! • The Fundamental Theorem of Statistics is called the Central Limit Theorem (CLT). The Fundamental Theorem of Statistics (cont.) The Central Limit Theorem (CLT) The mean of a random sample has a sampling distribution whose shape can be approximated by a Normal model. The larger the sample, the better the approximation will be. 4 Assumptions and Conditions • The CLT requires remarkably few assumptions, so there are few conditions to check: 1. Random Sampling Condition: The data values must be sampled randomly or the concept of a sampling distribution makes no sense. 2. Independence Assumption: The sample values must be mutually independent. (When the sample is drawn without replacement, check the 10% condition…) A Sampling Distribution Model for a Mean • The population mean for the sampling distribution is equal to the population mean. μx = μ • The standard deviation of the sampling distribution for means is equal to the population standard deviation divided by the square root of the sample size. σx = • The standard deviation of the sampling distribution declines only with the square root of the sample size. • While we’d always like a larger sample, the square root limits how much we can make a sample tell about the population. (This is an example of the Law of Diminishing Returns.) Example: The mean annual income for adult women in one city is $28,520 and the standard deviation of the incomes is $5700. The distribution of incomes is skewed to the right. Determine the sampling distribution of the mean for samples of size 110. In particular, state whether the distribution of the sample mean is normal or approximately normal and give its mean and standard deviation. Approximately normal mean = $28,520, standard deviation = A Sampling Distribution Model for a Mean Example: The number of hours per week that high school seniors spend on homework is normally distributed, with a mean of 11 hours and a standard deviation of 3 hours. 70 students are chosen at random. Find the probability that the mean number of hours spent on homework for this group is between 10.2 and 11.5. −0.8 10.2 − 11 = = −2.231 3 0.3586 70 11.5 − 11 0.5 z= = = 1.394 3 0.3586 70 z= n A Sampling Distribution Model for a Mean Diminishing Returns Conditions: • Randomization is satisfied • N > 10(70) σ 0.9055 5700 = $543 110 A Sampling Distribution Model for a Mean Example: At a shoe factory, the time taken to polish a finished shoe has a mean of 3.7 minutes and a standard deviation of 0.48 minutes. If 44 shoes are polished, there is a 5% chance that the mean time to polish the shoes is below what value? Conditions: • Randomization is assumed • N > 10(44) −1.645 = x − 3.7 ⇒ −0.119 = x − 3.7 0.48 44 0.05 x = 3.581 5 Standard Error • Both of the sampling distributions we’ve looked at are Normal. – For proportions SD ( pˆ ) = pq n – For means SD ( x ) = σ • For a sample proportion, the standard error is ˆˆ pq SE ( x ) = Sampling Distribution Models • Always remember that the statistic itself is a random quantity. – We can’t know what our statistic will be because it comes from a random sample. n • For the sample mean, the standard error is s n Sampling Distribution Models (cont.) • • When we don’t know p or σ, we’re stuck, right? • Nope. We will use sample statistics to estimate these population parameters. • Whenever we estimate the standard deviation of a sampling distribution, we call it a standard error. n Standard Error (cont.) SE ( pˆ ) = Standard Error (cont.) There are two basic truths about sampling distributions: 1. Sampling distributions arise because samples vary. Each random sample will have different cases and, so, a different value of the statistic. 2. Although we can always simulate a sampling distribution, the Central Limit Theorem saves us the trouble for means and proportions. • Fortunately, for the mean and proportion, the CLT tells us that we can model their sampling distribution directly with a Normal model. What Can Go Wrong? • Don’t confuse the sampling distribution with the distribution of the sample. – When you take a sample, you look at the distribution of the values, usually with a histogram, and you may calculate summary statistics. – The sampling distribution is an imaginary collection of the values that a statistic might have taken for all random samples—the one you got and the ones you didn’t get. 6 What Can Go Wrong? (cont.) • Beware of observations that are not independent. – The CLT depends crucially on the assumption of independence. – You can’t check this with your data—you have to think about how the data were gathered. What have we learned? • Sample proportions and means will vary from sample to sample—that’s sampling error (sampling variability). • Sampling variability may be unavoidable, but it is also predictable! • Watch out for small samples from skewed populations. – The more skewed the distribution, the larger the sample size we need for the CLT to work. What have we learned? (cont.) • We’ve learned to describe the behavior of sample proportions when our sample is random and large enough to expect at least 10 successes and failures. • We’ve also learned to describe the behavior of sample means (thanks to the CLT!) when our sample is random (and larger if our data come from a population that’s not roughly unimodal and symmetric). 7
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