Question

We wish to determine the proportion of small- to medium-sized streams in eastern North Carolina which have runoff from hog farms in order to prepare for issues arising from water quality in the aftermath of hurricanes. A random sample of 242 small- to medium-sized streams is selected and it is found that 55 of them have runoff from hog farms. Which of the following is the value of the parameter of interest in this setting?

a. 0.555
b. 0.03298
c. 0.445
d. The value of the parameter of interest cannot be determined from the given information.

Answer 1

The value of the parameter of interest in this setting is:

d. The value of the parameter of interest cannot be determined from the given information.

Explanation:

To determine the parameter of interest in this setting, we need information about the population figure of the small-to-medium-sized streams in eastern North Carolina. We also require the population proportion of these streams, which have runoff from hog farms. But in this situation, the information is lacking. Instead, we are given information about the sample, which only produces statistics. For example, we can calculate the average (mean) proportion of the sample of 242 small-to-medium-sized streams using the 55 that were found to have runoff from hog farms.