Lab
Sampling Distribution Machine
One sample gives one statistic. This lab takes thousands of samples so you can see the distribution of the statistic itself: where it centers, how spread out it is, and what shape it takes as the sample size grows.
Challenges
- Choose the strongly skewed population and n = 2. Draw 1,000 samples. Describe the shape of the sample means. Now try n = 30.
- With n = 25, compare the standard deviation of the simulated sample means to the population standard deviation divided by 5. Why 5?
- Switch to proportions with p = 0.1. Find the smallest n where the simulated distribution of p-hat looks roughly symmetric. Check np at that n.
- Quadruple n. What happens to the spread of the sample statistic? By what factor?