Sampling Distributions

The mean of a representative sample provides an estimate of the unknown population mean, but intuitively
we know that if we took multiple samples from the same population, the estimates would vary from one
another. We could, in fact, sample over and over from the same population and compute a mean for each
of the samples. In essence, all these sample means constitute yet another "population," and we could
graphically display the frequency distribution of the sample means. This is referred to as the sampling
distribution of the sample means.

Consider the following small population consisting of N=6 patients who recently underwent total hip
replacement. Three months after surgery they rated their pain-free function on a scale of 0 to 100
(0=severely limited and painful functioning to 100=completely pain free functioning). The data are shown
below and ordered from smallest to largest.

Pain-Free Function Ratings in a Small Population of N=6 Patients:

25, 50, 80, 85, 90, 100

The population mean is

The population standard deviation is

So, μ=71.7, and σ=28.4, and a box-whisker plot of the population data shown below indicates that the pain-
function scores are somewhat skewed toward high scores.

Suppose we did not have the population data and instead we were estimating the mean functioning score in
the population based on a sample of n=4. The table below shows all possible samples of size n=4 from the
population of N=6, when sampling without replacement. The rightmost column shows the sample mean
based on the 4 observations contained in that sample.

Table of Results of 15 Samples of 4 Each

Sample Observations in the Sample (n=4) Mean

1 25 50 80 85 60.0
 2 25 50 80 90 61.3

3 25 50 80 100 63.6

4 25 50 85 90 62.5

5 25 50 85 100 65.0

6 25 59 90 100 66.3

7 25 80 85 90 70.0

8 25 80 85 100 72.5

9 25 80 90 100 73.8

10 25 85 90 100 75.0

11 50 80 85 90 76.3

12 50 80 85 100 78.8

13 50 80 90 100 80.0

14 50 85 90 100 81.3

15 80 85 90 100 88.8

The collection of all possible sample means (in this example there are 15 distinct samples that are produced
by sampling 4 individuals at random without replacement) is called the sampling distribution of the sample
means, and we can consider it a population, because it includes all possible values produced by this
sampling scheme. If we compute the mean and standard deviation of this population of sample means we
get a mean = 71.7 and a standard deviation = 8.5. Notice also that the variability in the sample means is
much smaller than the variability in the population, and the distribution of the sample means is more
symmetric and has a much more restricted range than the distribution of the population data.

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arious state and national automobile associations regularly survey gasoline stations todetermine the current
retail price of gasoline. Suppose one such national associationcontacts 200 stations in the United States to
determine the price of regular unleadedgasoline at each station. In the context of this problem, define the
following descriptivemeasures:μ,Η,x,s.83)Answer:μis the mean price of the regular unleaded gasoline prices
of all retail gas stations inthe United States.Ηis the standard deviation of the regular unleaded gasoline
prices of all retail gasstations in the United States.xis the mean price of the regular unleaded gasoline prices
collected from the 200stations sampled.sis the standard deviation of the regular unleaded gasoline prices
collected from the200 stations sampled.84) Given the sample variance of a distribution, explain how to find
the standard deviation.84)Answer: Take the square root of the sample variance to find the sample standard
deviation.85) Which is expressed in the same units as the original data, the variance or the
standarddeviation?85)Answer: standard deviation86) Which measures variability about the mean, the range
or the standard deviation?86)Answer: standard deviation87) For a given data set, which is typically greater,
the range or the standard deviation?87)Answer: rangeMULTIPLE CHOICE.Choose the one alternative that
best completes the statement or answers the question.