Population vs.

Sample | Definitions, Differences &

Examples What is Data?

A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions

about.
A sample is the specific group that you will collect data from. The size
of the sample is always less than the total size of the population.
Population vs. Sample | Definitions, Differences &
Examples What is Data?

In research, a population doesn’t always refer to people.

It can mean a group containing elements of anything you want to
study, such as objects, events, organizations, countries, species,
organisms, etc.
 Population vs. Sample
What is Data?

Population Sample
Advertisements for IT jobs in Pakistan The top 50 search results for
advertisements for IT jobs in the
Pakistan on March 1, 2023

Songs from the Eurovision Song Contest Winning songs from the
Eurovision Song Contest that were
performed in English

Undergraduate students in the Netherlands 300 undergraduate students from

three Dutch universities who
volunteer for your psychology
research study

All countries of the world Countries with published data

available on birth rates and GDP
since 2000
 Collecting data from a population
What is Data?

Populations are used when your research question requires, or when

you have access to, data from every member of the population.
Usually, it is only straightforward to collect data from a whole
population when it is small, accessible and cooperative.

Example: Collecting data from a population:

A high school administrator wants to analyze the final exam scores of
all graduating seniors to see if there is a trend. Since they are only
interested in applying their findings to the graduating seniors in this
high school, they use the whole population dataset.
 Collecting data from a population
What is Data?

For larger and more dispersed populations, it is often difficult or

impossible to collect data from every individual.
For example, every 10 years, the federal US government aims to count
every person living in the country using the US Census.
This data is used to distribute funding across the nation.
However, historically, marginalized and low-income groups have been
difficult to contact, locate and encourage participation from. Because of
non-responses, the population count is incomplete and biased towards
some groups, which results in disproportionate funding across the
country.
In cases like this, sampling can be used to make more precise
inferences about the population.
 Collecting data from sample
What is Data?

When your population is large in size, geographically dispersed, or

difficult to contact, it’s necessary to use a sample. With statistical
analysis, you can use sample data to make estimates or
test hypotheses about population data.
Example: Collecting data from a sample
• You want to study political attitudes in young people.
• Your population is the 300,000 undergraduate students in the
Netherlands.
• Because it’s not practical to collect data from all of them, you use
a sample of 300 undergraduate volunteers from three Dutch
universities who meet your inclusion criteria.
• This is the group who will complete your online survey.
 Collecting data from sample
What is Data?

Ideally, a sample should be randomly selected and representative of the

population.
• Using probability sampling methods (such as simple random
sampling or stratified sampling) reduces the risk of sampling
bias and enhances both internal and external validity.
• For practical reasons, researchers often use non-probability
sampling methods.
• Non-probability samples are chosen for specific criteria; they may
be more convenient or cheaper to access. Because of non-random
selection methods, any statistical inferences about the broader
population will be weaker than with a probability sample.
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

How do we choose respondents???

1. Probabillity Sampling
• Every member of the population has a chance of being selected.
• It is mainly used in quantitative research
2. Non Probability Sampling
• Not all the members of population have equal chances to participate
in study
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

1. Probabillity Sampling
• Simple Random Sampling
• Every member of population has an equal chance of selection.
• Sampling frame should include the whole population.
• Example Lottery game in which any chit can come upwards
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

1. Probabillity Sampling
• Stratified Random Sampling
• The population is divided into mutually exclusive groups(different
labels), and random samples are taken from each group.
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

1. Probabillity Sampling
• Systematic Sampling
• The population is arranged in a particular order either ascending or
descending order.
• Firstly take one any random number remaining numbers are taken
like every 10th , 20th, 30th element, and so on until population ends
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

1. Probabillity Sampling
• Cluster/Area Sampling
• The population is divided into mutually exclusive groups(like union
councils/towns/cities/provinces/countries/pacific regions).
• The researcher draws the sample from each groups to analyse.
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

1. Non-Probabillity Sampling
• Convenience Sampling
• The researcher draws the most accessible practitioner to analyse.
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

1. Non-Probabillity Sampling
• Judgement/Purposive Sampling
• Researcher use their expertise to select a sample.
• The researcher selects the members of population who are goog
prospects for accurate information.
• Example: when a researcher wants to examine the motorcycle
models the person buys by the age ratio of motorcycle owners.
• The researcher can use judgmental sampling to select a sample of
motorcycle owners or individuals they believe are most likely to
purchase the motorcycle.
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

1. Non-Probabillity Sampling
• Quota Sampling
• A tailored sample: Researchers choose these individuals according
to specific traits or qualities.
• They decide and create quotas so that the market research samples
can be useful in collecting data.
• These samples can be generalized to the entire population. The
final subset will be decided only according to the interviewer’s or
researcher’s knowledge of the population.
• Example: Let say data is collected from homogeneous group:
• 30% black balls, 30% green, and remaining 40% blue ones.
• Here neither group has equal chance this is called quota sampling.
 Probability Sampling Vs Non Probability Sampling
What is Data?

1. Non-Probabillity Sampling
• Snowball Sampling
• Choosing the participants to find more participants for a sample
group.(Like one asks for reference to add participants in the
sampling group.)
 Collecting data from sample
What is Data?

Reasons for sampling

•Necessity: Sometimes it’s simply not possible to study the whole
population due to its size or inaccessibility.
•Practicality: It’s easier and more efficient to collect data from a
sample.
•Cost-effectiveness: There are fewer participant, laboratory,
equipment, and researcher costs involved.
•Manageability: Storing and running statistical analyses on smaller
datasets is easier and reliable.
 Population parameter vs. sample statistic
What is Data?

When you collect data from a population or a sample, there are various
measurements and numbers you can calculate from the data.
• A parameter is a measure that describes the whole population.
• A statistic is a measure that describes the sample.
You can use estimation or hypothesis testing to estimate how likely it is
that a sample statistic differs from the population parameter.
 Population parameter vs. sample statistic
What is Data?

Research example: Parameters and statistics

• In your study of students’ political attitudes, you ask your survey
participants to rate themselves on a scale from 1, very liberal, to 7,
very conservative.
You find that most of your sample identifies as liberal – the mean
rating on the political attitudes scale is 3.2.

• You can use this statistic, the sample mean of 3.2, to make a
scientific guess about the population parameter –
that is, to infer the mean political attitude rating of all undergraduate
students in the Netherlands.
 Sampling error
What is Data?
• A sampling error is the difference between a population parameter and a
sample statistic.

• A sampling error is a statistical error that occurs when an analyst does not
select a sample that represents the entire population of data. As a result, the
results found in the sample do not represent the results that would be
obtained from the entire population.

• A sampling error occurs when the sample used in the study is not
representative of the whole population.

• Sampling is an analysis performed by selecting a number of observations

from a larger population.
• Even randomized samples will have some degree of sampling error because a
sample is only an approximation of the population from which it is drawn.
 Sampling error
What is Data?
• The prevalence of sampling errors can be reduced by increasing
the sample size.
• In general, sampling errors can be placed into four categories:
population-specific error, selection error, sample frame error, or
non-response error.
• In your study, the sampling error is the difference between the
mean political attitude rating of your sample and the true mean
political attitude rating of all undergraduate students in the
Netherlands.
• Sampling errors happen even when you use a randomly selected
sample. This is because random samples are not identical to the
population in terms of numerical measures
like means and standard deviations.
 Sampling error
What is Data?

• Because the aim of scientific research is to generalize findings from

the sample to the population, you want the sampling error to be low.
You can reduce sampling error by increasing the sample size.
Calculating Sampling Error
The sampling error formula is used to calculate the overall sampling
error in statistical analysis. The sampling error is calculated by dividing
the standard deviation of the population by the square root of the size
of the sample and then multiplying the resultant with the Z-score value,
which is based on the confidence interval.

where:Z score value based on the confidence interval (approx=1.96)

σ=Population standard deviation
n=Size of the sample​
 Practical Question
What is Data?

A market researcher surveys 85 people on their coffee-drinking habits.

She wants to know whether people in the local region are willing to
switch their regular drink to something new.

What is the sample?

A People in the local region

B The 85 people
C Society at large
D The market researcher
 Practical Question
What is Data?

The market researcher analyzes the data and finds that 61% of survey
respondents are willing to switch their regular drink to something new.

What is the 61% referred to as?

A Parameter
B Statistic
C Sampling error
D Standard error
 Practical Question
What is Data?

The market researcher wants to replicate her study using a new sample.
This time, she uses a recruitment database to help her narrow down the
sample. She selects people living in the region, between ages 16-49 and
both men and women.
What type of sampling is this?

A Probability sampling
B Non-probability sampling