Bias and Precision
Learning outcomes
On watching this video, students should be able to:
- Identify bias and precision as the two ways in which a point estimate may differ from the true value of the population parameter.
- Explain how precision refers to the stochastic or random component of variation; that is capture by the sampling distribution of the point estimate (in particular the standard error).
- Explain how bias refers to a systematic difference between the true value and the point estimate.
- Infer the links between bias and precision and good study design aimed at obtaining unbiased point estimates and maximising precision (through reducing sampling variation).