When substituting the sample standard deviation for the population standard deviation, we can no longer rely on the normal distribution to provide the critical z-score for the confidence interval.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When substituting the sample standard deviation for the population standard deviation, we use the t-distribution instead of the normal distribution to find the critical value for the confidence interval, because the t-distribution accounts for the added uncertainty of estimating the population standard deviation.

When Substituting the Sample Standard Deviation for the Population Standard