Definition: Interval estimation

Category: General concept

The estimation of a population parameter by specifying a range of values bounded by an upper and a lower limit, within which the true value is asserted to lie, as distinct from point estimation which assigns a single value to the true value of the parameter. The unknown value of the population parameter is presumed to lie within the specified interval either on a stated proportion of occasions, under conditions of repeated sampling, or in some other probabilistic sense (A Dictionary of Statistical Terms).

Estimation is concerned with inference about the numerical value of unknown population values from incomplete data such as a sample. If a single figure is calculated for each unknown parameter the process is called point estimation. If an interval is calculated within which the parameter is likely, in some sense, to lie, the process is called interval estimation (The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms). The International Statistical Institute, “The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms”, edited by Yadolah Dodge, Oxford University Press, 2003