Key Words
Statistical population (population):
A statistical population is a collection of data points that is the target of interest.
Example 1: In a statistics I section Z course, the class is composed of 14 females and 12 males. The entire class, in this case, is the statistical population or population. That is, the class consists of 26 total people. (population consists of 26 people)
Example 2: If we wished to study the grade point average (GPA) of students at a particular college (Say this college is College A), the GPA for the entire student body at College A is a population.
Statistical Sample (Sample):
A statistical sample is a subset or part of the population.
Example 1: In the statistics I section Z course, the number of males in the class is a sample. In this case, the number of males is a subset of the number of people in the class (population). The population consists of 26 people. (There are 14 females and 12 males in this course.) Therefore, the sample consists of 12 males.
Example 2: The number of students at College A whose GPA is less than 3.5 is a sample. This is because the number of students at College A whose GPA is less than 3.5 is a subset (Sample) of the entire student body at College A (Population).