I'm looking at an example where a poll of different salaries was conducted to estimate the average salary of a region in Canada. Would this be descriptive or inferential?
1 Answer
May 10, 2017
The poll of different salaries conducted would on its own be descriptive, but since it is being expanded to estimate the average salary of a region of Canada, the estimation would become inferential.
Explanation:
A descriptive study of a poll or data set uses brief coefficients to describe the data which can comprise either a small sample or the entire data set.
If the results of the study were to be expanded to accommodate a larger population or data set, the values from the descriptive poll would be inferred to meet the needs of the larger set. An inferred study may need a different approach to data collection to that of a descriptive poll.
There is more information here:
https://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statinf.php
