Confidence Interval Interpretation

Abstract

This is an activity for an introductory statistics course and introduces parameter estimation, particularly confidence intervals, for proportions. The focus here is largely conceptual: understanding the purpose of confidence intervals, interpreting them in context, and explaining how confidence intervals are affected by sample size and confidence level. The computational procedures for finding confidence intervals are not introduced in this activity but instead in follow-up activities so that students have an understanding of parameter estimation as a process and goal separate from the computation.

The learning objectives are:

• Students will interpret point and interval estimates in context.
• Students will describe the effect of confidence level and sample size on the width of a confidence interval.
• Students will convert among numeric and visual representations of confidence intervals (Information Processing).

Level: High School, Undergraduate
Setting: Classroom
Activity Type: Learning Cycle
Discipline: Statistics
Course: Introductory Statistics
Keywords: parameter estimation, confidence interval