thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69
Enroll

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

Data & Analytics · Foundational

Inferential Statistics

Using sample data to draw conclusions or make predictions about a larger population, with quantified uncertainty.

Definition

Inferential methods include confidence intervals, hypothesis tests and regression. Validity depends on random, representative sampling and on the method's assumptions.

Example

Estimating national voter preference from a poll of 1,200 people.

Exam tip

Any conclusion about a population from a sample is inferential and needs a margin of error or p-value.

Related terms