Social Research Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Home
Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2012-24, Social Research Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/
This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for additions or amendments.
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Parameter
A parameter is a descriptive summary of a characteristic of set of data or summary statistic of the relationship between two sets of data.
Measures of central tendency (averages), measures of dispersion and correlation coefficients are all parameters.
In some usages parameter is restricted to population summary measures and the term statistic (or sampling statistic) is used for the same kinds of measures of samples. Often, however, parameter is used to refer to any summary measure of a set of data whether it is a sample or a population measure.
Statistical inference is concerned with estimating population parameters from sample statistics.
A coefficient or value for the population that corresponds to a particular statistic from a sample and is often inferred from the sample.
See also
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