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Concept
Statistical model
Summary
A statistical model is a mathematical model that embodies a set of statistical assumptions concerning the generation of sample data (and similar data from a larger population). A statistical model represents, often in considerably idealized form, the data-generating process. When referring specifically to probabilities, the corresponding term is probabilistic model.
A statistical model is usually specified as a mathematical relationship between one or more random variables and other non-random variables. As such, a statistical model is "a formal representation of a theory" (Herman Adèr quoting Kenneth Bollen).
All statistical hypothesis tests and all statistical estimators are derived via statistical models. More generally, statistical models are part of the foundation of statistical inference.
Informally, a statistical model can be thought of as a statistical assumption (or set of statistical assumptions) with a certain property: that the assumption allows us to calculate the probability of any event. As an example, consider a pair of ordinary six-sided dice. We will study two different statistical assumptions about the dice.
The first statistical assumption is this: for each of the dice, the probability of each face (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) coming up is 1/6. From that assumption, we can calculate the probability of both dice coming up 5: 1/6 × 1/6 = 1/36. More generally, we can calculate the probability of any event: e.g. (1 and 2) or (3 and 3) or (5 and 6).
The alternative statistical assumption is this: for each of the dice, the probability of the face 5 coming up is 1/8 (because the dice are weighted). From that assumption, we can calculate the probability of both dice coming up 5: 1/8 × 1/8 = 1/64. We cannot, however, calculate the probability of any other nontrivial event, as the probabilities of the other faces are unknown.
The first statistical assumption constitutes a statistical model: because with the assumption alone, we can calculate the probability of any event.
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