Inference (statistics)

process of deducing properties of an underlying probability distribution by analysis of data

Statistical inference [1] is the statistical process of drawing conclusions from data.

Examples would be the randomness of the data, observational errors, sampling variation, and other issues.[2]

For the most part, statistical inference makes statements about populations, using data drawn from the population of interest by some form of random sampling. The result is some kind of statistical proposition, such as:

References

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  1. Or statistical induction and inferential statistics
  2. Upton G. & Cook I. 2008. Oxford dictionary of statistics. OUP. ISBN 978-0-19-954145-4