What Is The Difference Between Sample & Population?

There are differences between what a sample is and what population is, however they are both similar in the sense that they concern themselves with large groups of people or social phenomenon and so on.

• What is the difference between population and sample?

In order to describe what the difference between sample and population is, we need to firstly determine what each of the terms is referring to.

• Population

This term is used to describe a vast group of people or inhabitants that reside in one particular area. For example, you would have probably heard this word used to describe the amount of people in the United States or Europe or all over the world on a global scale. The population states how many people live in that country or state and so on. The majority of the time the term is used to describe people, but it can be used to identify the amount of certain plants or animals that grow and live in a particular area. This term is not generally used for inanimate objects. For example, a person wouldn't say that a car manufacturing factory has a 'population' of 500 cars.

• Sample

This word is linked to population because a sample is a select grouping of people or living things from the population. For example, if someone was carrying out a social research project and was interviewing 50 people from a specific community, they would be the sample because they have chosen 50 as opposed to the whole population. In most cases, studies are carried out using samples because it is much easier as well as cheaper to conduct research on a select few rather than a whole population. The findings discovered from such studies will then be applied to the remainder of the population.

Population means the total number of people in Pakistan, and the Sampling means the total number of people in Gujranwala which is the one city of Pakistan.

By: Ejaz Humayon from Gujranwala

The population is all the objects or specimens of a defined group. The sample is a section of the population that you are actually going to survey. The sample is a proportion of the population and it has all the characteristics of the population.