ABSTRACT
Statistics is the subject of drawing inferences about some summary aspect of a population (i.e. a population parameter) based on a representative sample of the population. It is very unlikely that the researcher will ever have the time, enthusiasm or budget to carry out a census study (i.e. collect data on all members of a population) and he/she will instead have to rely on a (hopefully representative) sample of the population on which to base any inference.
