Sampling without Finding Anything

Abstract

Sampling statistics ordinarily take as their point of departure some finding in a sample. Say the sample consists of artifacts, including some projectile points. We can estimate the proportion of projectile points in the artifact assemblage from which the sample came; we can estimate the mean weight of projectile points for the population of projectile points from which the sample came; we can estimate the proportions of different raw materials of which projectile points in the population were made; and so on. Following the procedures discussed in Chapters 9, 10, and 17, we can attach error ranges for particular confidence levels to these estimates.KeywordsRandom SampleConfidence LevelSampling StatisticEntire PopulationPrevious StepThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.