Monthly Archives: March 2013

Tabs test


This is the basics module.


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Bayesian estimation of a population proportion

Bayesian estimation of a population proportion

The Basics

In statistics, a binomial proportion confidence interval is a confidence interval for a proportion in a statistical population. It uses the proportion estimated in a statistical sample and allows for sampling error. There are several formulas for a binomial confidence interval, but all of them rely on the assumption of a binomial distribution. In general, a binomial distribution applies when an experiment is repeated a fixed number of times, each trial of the experiment has two possible outcomes (labeled arbitrarily success and failure), the probability of success is the same for each trial, and the trials are statistically independent.

A simple example of a binomial distribution is the set of various possible outcomes, and their probabilities, for the number of heads observed when a (not necessarily fair) coin is flipped ten times. The observed binomial proportion is the fraction of the flips which turn out to be heads. Given this observed proportion, the confidence interval for the true proportion innate in that coin is a range of possible proportions which may contain the true proportion. A 95% confidence interval for the proportion, for instance, will contain the true proportion 95% of the times that the procedure for constructing the confidence interval is employed.

There are several ways to compute a confidence interval for a binomial proportion. The normal approximation interval is the simplest formula, and the one introduced in most basic Statistics classes and textbooks. This formula, however, is based on an approximation that does not always work well. Several competing formulas are available that perform better, especially for situations with a small sample size and a proportion very close to zero or one. The choice of interval will depend on how important it is to use a simple and easy-to-explain interval versus the desire for better accuracy.

Mathematical Overview and Module Walk-Through

Bayesian estimation (Bernoulli parameter) module


Univariate probability distributions

In probability and statistics, a probability distribution assigns a probability to every possible collection of outcomes of a random experiment. Examples are found in experiments whose sample space is non-numerical, where the distribution would be a categorical distribution; experiments whose sample space is encoded by discrete random variables, where the distribution is a probability mass function; and experiments with sample spaces encoded by continuous random variables, where the distribution is a probability density function.

A probability distribution can be specified in a number of different ways, each of which are equivalent, often chosen for mathematical convenience:

  1. by supplying a valid probability mass function or probability density function
  2. by supplying a valid cumulative distribution function or survival function
  3. by supplying a valid hazard function
  4. by supplying a valid characteristic function
  5. by supplying a rule for constructing a new random variable from other random variables whose joint probability distribution is known.

Important and commonly encountered probability distributions include the binomial distribution, the hypergeometric distribution, and the normal distribution.

Introduction to the module

 

Probability distributions module