LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

• Take random samples from populations.
• Distinguish between population parameters and sample statistics.
• Apply the central limit theorem.
• Derive sampling distributions of sample means and proportions.
• Explain why sample statistics are good estimators of population parameters.
• Judge one estimator as better than another based on desirable properties of estimators.
• Apply the concept of degrees of freedom.
• Identify special sampling methods.
• Compute sampling distributions and related results using templates.