Texas Forensic Science Commission Licensing Practice Exam

The statement that population size does not affect the precision of estimates is accurate when considering that precision primarily depends on the sample size rather than the population size itself. In statistics, precision refers to the degree to which repeated measurements under unchanged conditions show the same results. It can be influenced by factors such as the variability within the data and the methods used to collect samples.

When you draw a sample from a population, increasing the sample size typically leads to more precise estimates of the population parameters, as larger samples can better capture the diversity and characteristics of the population. However, if the population itself is large but homogeneous, the precision of the estimate may still be high regardless of population size. It's also important to consider that precision is more about how reliably we can estimate the parameters than about the overall size of the population. Thus, the relationship between population size and estimation precision is not direct; a large population with a small, well-designed sample can yield precise estimates.