Statistics vs.

Parameter
Statistic
According to Surbhi (2016), Statistic is a
numerical value, which is obtained from a
sample of data. It is a descriptive statistical
measure and function of sample observation.
A sample is described as a fraction of the
population, which represents the entire
population in all its characteristics. The
common use of statistic is to estimate a
particular population parameter.
 Parameter
A fixed characteristic of population based on
all the elements of the population is termed as
the parameter. Here population refers to an
aggregate of all units under consideration,
which share common characteristics. It is a
numerical value that remains unchanged, as
every member of the population is surveyed to
know the parameter. It indicates true value,
which is obtained after the census is conducted.
 Statistic is a measure which describes a
fraction of population.

Parameter refers to a measure which

describes population.
Examples:
You randomly poll voters in an election.
You find that 55% of the population plans
to vote for candidate A. That is a statistic.
Why? You only asked a sample of the
population who they are voting for. You
calculated what the population was likely
to do based on the sample.
 You could ask a class of third graders
who likes vanilla ice cream. 90% raise
their hands. You have a parameter: 90%
of that class likes vanilla ice cream. You
know this because you asked everyone in
the class.
 Population Parameters
refers to a population mean.

refers to the standard deviation of a

population.

2 refers to the variance of a population.

P refers to the proportion of

population elements that have a particular attribute.
Q refers to the proportion of population elements
that do not have a particular attribute, so Q= 1 - P.

is the population correlation coefficient, based

on all of the elements from a population.

N is the number of elements in a population.

 Sample Statistics
x refers to a sample mean.

s refers to the standard deviation of a sample.

s2 refers to the variance of a sample.

p refers to the proportion of sample elements

that have a particular attribute.
q refers to the proportion of sample elements
that do not have a particular attribute, so q = 1 - p.

r is the sample correlation coefficient, based on

all of the elements from a sample.

n is the number of elements in a sample