Population
the totality of all subjects possessing certain common characteristics that are being studied *
Sample
a group of subjects selected from the population *
Example: A teacher wants to know if math students scores are improving. Mercer University is chosen as the college for the study. Mercer University has 500 math students. A study is conducted of 4 math classes of 20 students who attend Mercer University. Data is collected of their test scores.
Population is 500 math students at Mercer University.
Sample is 20 students from 4 math classes.
* definitions from Elementary Statistics fifth edition by Allan G. Bluman
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