Final answer:
In most statistical studies, the parameter is unknown and the statistic is known. A parameter is a numerical characteristic of a population, whereas a statistic is a number that represents a property of a sample.
Step-by-step explanation:
In most statistical studies, the parameter is unknown and the statistic is known. A parameter is a numerical characteristic of a population, whereas a statistic is a number that represents a property of a sample. Let's take an example to clarify this. Imagine an insurance company wants to determine the proportion of medical doctors involved in malpractice lawsuits. They randomly select 500 doctors from a professional directory and determine the number in the sample who have been involved in a lawsuit. In this case, the proportion of all medical doctors who have been involved in a malpractice lawsuit is the parameter, while the number of doctors involved in the sample is the statistic.