Life is filled with uncertainty.
—Thomas Dietz, Professor, Author
—Linda Kalof, Professor, Author
Our daily lives revolve around things that we cannot control. Before we step out the front door we ask, will it rain today? What is the chance of getting stuck in traffic? Or better yet, will my class be cancelled? Even though Dietz and Kalof (2009) suggest that life is uncontrollable, we still try to feel a small sense of control through a smart use of statistics. Probability helps us to understand and cope with the seemingly uncertain decisions of life.
Uncertainty is also present in our samples since we rarely have the ability to measure the entire population. Understanding probability also assists us in obtaining accurate, representative samples. From probability-based samples we can construct confidence intervals to obtain a range of values in which our population value may lie.
In this week, you will explore probability as it relates to an observed occurrence. You also will explore the concept of the sampling distribution as well as confidence intervals of specific data. Finally, you explore the results of data to determine implications for social change.