Steps to Decision Making
Population: A collection of individuals, objects, or measurements.
Sample: A part of the population.
Populations can be large or small; population size depends on the definition of individuals, objects, or measurements in the group.
Both of the following are examples of a population.
- To calculate the average of students who took Business Statistics at The State University of New York (SUNY) Plattsburgh in the summer of 2012, the population would include a small number of students.
- To find the average of all the students who ever took Business Statistics at SUNY Plattsburgh, the number of students would be much larger.
A sample is a part of the population.
