A population consists of all the members of a group of interest. A sample is a subset of the population.
Cluster sample
Practice makes perfect
A population consists of all the members of a group of interest. Since it may be impractical to examine every member of a population, a sample — a subset of the population — is sometimes selected to represent the population. The sample can then be analyzed to draw conclusions about the entire population.
Let's consider our situation.
The students in the school are divided according to their zip codes. Then, all of the students that live in one zip code are selected.
Here, the population consists of all of the students. The sample consists of the students who live in one zip code. Samples can be classified into different categories.
Members that are readily available or easy to reach are selected.
In our situation, students are divided into groups based on their zip code. Then, all of the students from one of those groups are selected as a sample. This means that we have a cluster sample.
