A statistical technique where there is a known theoretical distribution, and only a few unknown parameters need to be estimated. For example, people's heights, where we may know that heights have a Normal distribution, but need to estimate average height and its standard deviation (s.d., σ). Statisticians prefer to use parametric statistics where possible, because they are less likely to miss a real effect; the statistics have greater power. Contrast with nonparametric statistics.
Defined on page 53
Used on page 53