Population vs Sample

[A+study]

How do you distinguish between the population and the sample? Obviously the population doesn't have a number to it, but do you refer to the age group of those referred to in the sample? I.e. what would the population be for the following samples:
- Year 8 students at Mountain Hills College
- Year 11 students
- First year uni students
- adults who read the age
Thanks!!!

[#J.Procrastinator]

Hey there,

Population is the larger group from which a sample is taken from. In fact, you can give a population a number. Population doesn't refer to everyone in a country or something alike, in psych it refers to a group of people with one or more characteristics in common. So, a population can be VCE students. They can be classified as a population as they all have at least one thing in common; that is, being a VCE student.

From the example above, a sample can be drawn. A sample is a subgroup of the population. So the sample drawn can be Year 12 psychology students (taken from all the VCE students- population).

Population > Sample

Year 8 students at Mountain Hills College : Population could be students at MHC
Year 11 students: Population could be VCE students
First year uni students: Population could be University students
Adults who read the age: Population could be everyone who reads the age

Hope this helps a bit!

[TrueTears]

Population: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_%28statistics%29#Population_definition
(Random) sample: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sample_%28statistics%29#Mathematical_description_of_random_sample