Which term refers to the naturally occurring discrepancy between a sample statistic and the population parameter?

Which term refers to the naturally occurring discrepancy between a sample statistic and the population parameter?

• A. Population
• B. Sample
• C. Parameter
• D. Sampling error

Answer: (D)

Discrepancy between a sample statistic and the population parameter occurs because simply drawing a subset of units from the population introduces random variation. This natural difference is what we call sampling error. The population parameter is a fixed value, while the statistic calculated from one sample varies from sample to sample due to which individuals happen to be included. So the observed gap in a single sample reflects random sampling rather than a mistake or bias in measurement. If you repeated the sampling many times, those differences would vary around zero on average, and the typical size of the difference is described by the standard error.

Discrepancy between a sample statistic and the population parameter occurs because simply drawing a subset of units from the population introduces random variation. This natural difference is what we call sampling error. The population parameter is a fixed value, while the statistic calculated from one sample varies from sample to sample due to which individuals happen to be included. So the observed gap in a single sample reflects random sampling rather than a mistake or bias in measurement. If you repeated the sampling many times, those differences would vary around zero on average, and the typical size of the difference is described by the standard error.