What Cover is
Cover is a statistical method which is used to estimate the population total of a given population based on a sample. It is a simple technique which allows the estimation of population totals without having to survey the entire population.
Steps for Cover:
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Select a sample from the population of interest. Make sure that the sample is representative of the population (e.g. it should be randomly selected).
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Calculate the sample total. This can be done by summing up the individual values of the sample.
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Calculate the population total. This can be done by using the sample total and the population size.
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Calculate the sample size and the population size ratio. This can be done by dividing the population size by the sample size.
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Multiply the sample total with the population size/sample size ratio. This will give you the estimated population total.
Examples
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Cover can be used to measure the rate of change in a variable over time. For example, a researcher may track the number of new customers who join a website each month, and use cover to measure the rate of growth.
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Cover can be used to measure the degree of overlap between two or more variables. For example, a researcher may compare the overlap in customer purchasing habits between two different stores, using cover to measure the degree of similarity between the two stores’ customers.
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Cover can be used to measure the degree of correlation between two or more variables. For example, a researcher may measure the correlation between the number of hours studied and the grade achieved on a test, using cover to measure the strength of the relationship.