A statistic and a parameter are very similar. They are both descriptions of groups, like “50% of dog owners prefer X Brand dog food.” The difference between a statistic and a parameter is that statistics describe a sample. A parameter describes an entire population
A statistic is a characteristic of a sample, a portion of the target population. A parameter is a fixed, unknown numerical value, while the statistic is a known number and a variable which depends on the portion of the population.
