Chapter 2 Understanding Randomness and Probability
¶Randomness is essential to the study of statistics for many different reasons. Two of the most important are stated below.
By using randomness we can design samples that have a better chance of being non-biased and representing the population.
By understanding randomness, we can use our sample not only to make a claim about a population, or estimate the value of a population parameter, but also to state how “good” that claim is.
Since inferential statistics, which is where we are headed in this text, is all about making claims about a population based on a sample, it is important that we understand randomness and more specifically, the probability of an event.