Population and sample

A Population consists of the total collection of observations that are of interest to the decision maker.

Example: set of grade point averages of college students at The University of West Florida.

A Sample is a subset of the observations taken from the population.

Example: a representative group of students' grade point averages from the University of West Florida.

A sample is "representative" when it exhibits characteristics typical of those of the population from where the sample has been drawn.