# Class 18: Inference for the Mean

## Objectives

Today we turn our attention to modeling, the third and final aspect of data analysis. The first model we will look at is modeling the mean value of some random process. In these notes we will start to see how to implement this model directly in R and how to analyze how well it fits the data at hand.

## A simple example

We want to take the observations of some numeric variable and provide an estimate of its true mean. The techniques we cover today will apply to two similar but conceptually different cases. These are:

• a variable sampled independently from a larger population
• a variable observed from repeated trials of a random process

In the first case, the true mean is the mean of the entire population. For the second case, the true mean is the average value we would get from an infinite number of trials. As long as the sample from the population is taken at random and the output collected from each random trial is independent of prior trials, the same exact technique is used for estimating the mean of both situations.

Consider a random sample of coins from a cup similar to the one we have in class:

Our best guess for the average value of all of the coins in the cups might be the mean of the sample we took:

Let’s do this is a different way that will allow us to extrapolate on this single number:

This says to construct a model for the variable number from the data set coins. The 1 indicates that we are fitting a single mean to the dataset; we will see later how to fit more complex models. To see the output of the model, run reg_table:

The model calls the mean an intercept, for reasons that will become clear shortly, and it gives the exact same value as with our old technique. The other numbers above and below the table can be useful but are not our primary subject of interest at the moment.

Why bother with this more involved method for finding a mean? For one thing, reg_table provides an option called level that can be set to a number between 0 and 1. For example:

The table now includes two additional numbers of the mean: the 10th and 90th percentiles of a confidence interval. A confidence interval provides a guess for where the true mean, defined in either of the ways described as above, actually lies. The construction of a confidence interval involves some surprisingly deep mathematics, including the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. Using confidence intervals is, however, incredibly simple!

The confidence level, here 90%, gives the probability that the testing procedure will lead to a correct result if a sample or experiment is repeated many times. Common confidence levels include 90%, 95%, and 99%.

Taking a set of sampled flight times from paper helicopters:

We can run the exact same analysis:

Unless we have a specific reason to use a different level, we will usually use a 95% confidence interval in this course.

### Practice

We will work on the next lab for the remainder of the class: lab18.Rmd