Confidence Interval for proportions
For a Single Population Proportion:
1. Parameter of Interest
Type |
Symbol |
Description |
Population Proportion |
|
The true proportion you're estimating |
Sample Proportion |
|
Number of successes / sample size |
2. Check Conditions
Condition |
Requirement |
How to Check |
Random Sample |
Sample randomly selected |
State whether met |
Success Condition |
|
Calculate and verify |
Failure Condition |
|
Calculate and verify |
3. Calculate Sample Proportion
4. Standard Error
Find in standard error, but for proportion:
5. Critical Values
Confidence Level |
Value |
80% |
1.282 |
90% |
1.645 |
95% |
1.96 |
99% |
2.576 |
7. Interpretation Template
"We are [confidence level]% confident that the true population proportion is between [lower bound] and [upper bound]."
For Difference in Population Proportions:
1. Check Conditions
Condition |
Requirement |
Notes |
Random Samples |
Both groups randomly sampled |
Essential for inference |
Independence |
Groups must be independent |
No overlap between groups |
Success/Failure |
Check for both groups |
All must be |
2. Calculations
Standard Error
Find in standard error, but for difference in proportions:
Confidence Interval
3. Interpretation Guide
Result |
Interpretation |
Positive Interval |
likely larger than |
Negative Interval |
likely smaller than |
Contains Zero |
No significant difference detected |
Quick Reference Table
Component |
Single Proportion |
Difference in Proportions |
Point Estimate |
|
|
Standard Error |
|
|
Critical Value |
|
|
Conditions |
and |
Check both groups separately |