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Chapter 1 Notes by Steven Grindle
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In statistics population and sample are words that have a unique and special definition that differ from the popular use of the words.
A population is the entire group of things we wish to examine.
A sample is any sub-set of the that entire group.
We often assume a population consists of people. To a statistician a population may consist of cows, houses, nails, votes, prices, employees, inventions, etc.
Key words that usually indicate a population include; all, every, complete, entire.
Key words that usually indicate a sample include: some, limited number, random sample, sample, few.
There are many correct answers to the examples listed in the table to the right.
Before you click to see some of those answers, think of some answers yourself.
Examples – Link to answers
Population Sample
Every male student at Champlain College
60 residential customers
All female staff at Champlain College
The entire list of public companies which trade stocks on the New York Stock Exchange
52,000 test tubes of water taken from various locations around Lake Champlain.
All trout in Lake Champlain