Question: A sample is a subgroup of the population that is supposed to represent the entire population. In your opinion:
- Is it appropriate to attempt to represent the entire population only by a sample?
- When you formulate your answer to this question, it may be useful to come up with an example of a question from your own field of interest that you may want to investigate.
- In the context of this example, you may identify a target population, which you think is suited for the investigation of the given question.
Answers: A sample is a subset of a population that reflects the characteristics of the entire population. In my opinion, it is appropriate to attempt to represent the entire population solely through a sample, provided that the chosen sample is a true representative of the population.
A carefully selected and well-analyzed sample will not only produce accurate results but also provide reliable information about the population from which it was chosen. Moreover, selecting an entire population, especially when the population is large, can be costly or practically impossible. Therefore, we often use samples of the population instead. It is advisable to ensure that the sample has the same characteristics as the population it represents.
Drawing from my experience working in a state ministry of works, consider an opinion poll that surveys a sample of 100 road users about their opinions on a specific road. This random sample aims to represent the entire perspective of road users in the state Illowsky, B., & Dean, S. (2022)
In the context of the example above, an opinion poll that gathers insights from 100 road users serves as a manageable yet representative cross-section of the broader road user community. This approach not only streamlines the data collection process but also facilitates a focused and in-depth analysis of the sampled opinions.