Parameter

A parameter is a fixed numerical value that describes a feature of an entire population, such as its true mean or proportion.

A parameter is a constant for a given population, even though you usually do not know its value. For example, the true proportion of all adults who own a car is a population proportion, written pp (the letter p). Parameters are typically labeled with Greek letters, such as the population mean μ\mu (mu) and population standard deviation σ\sigma (sigma). You estimate a parameter using a statistic computed from a sample.

More collecting data and study design terms, or browse the full statistics glossary.