“I surveyed the population of UK voters by asking 1,000 people.”
Usage Entry 1460 / 1605 60-second read
Sample vs. Population
A subset you measure versus the full group you want to know about.
The comparisoni
“I surveyed a SAMPLE of 1,000 UK voters — the POPULATION is all UK voters. Statistics infers from sample to population.”
The ruleii
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SAMPLE = subset. POPULATION = full group.
POPULATION: every member of the group of interest. SAMPLE: the subset actually measured. Inferential statistics quantifies how confident you can be about the population, given your sample. Sample size and selection method are crucial.
Memory aidiii
Remember it like this
Sample → population.