If you're a sociology student, or in a similar major, chances are you're gonna be required to take a statistics course. If you plan on being a social scientist, then understanding statistics is key to your success.
First off, what exactly are statistics? Statistics are a set of facts and figures pulled by examining and analyzing numerical data. In a sociological study, this may include things like average income, birth rates, graduation rates, average IQ, etc. Using statistics in the behavioral involves gathering information through interviews, polls, observations, etc, and using mathematical procedures to organize and summarize that information.
Before conducting research, you usually start by asking a question about a specific group of people. For example, you could ask what the average income for high school drop outs is. Or how likely it is that a child raised by a single parent will drop out of high school. Researchers may be interested in finding out about specific characteristics of individuals within a population or even outside factors that influence them. The goal is not only to answer find information, but to then compare that information. For example, comparing the average income of high school drop outs to the average income of high school graduates. Only then can we have some idea of how significant the data really is.
Using the example above, the population (the group of people) we are asking a question about is high school drop outs. In other words, the entire group that we wish to study is called the population. This should always be made clear when presenting research. The population doesn't necessarily need to consist of people. A population can also consist of inanimate objects, organizations, animals or anything else you want to study. Corporations, pigeons, car parts, etc can be labeled as a population within a study.
Populations tend to be pretty big. The amount of high school drop outs in the U.S. is such a huge number, it would be nearly impossible to contact every single one of them and ask them questions. This is why social scientists and researchers use samples instead. A sample is essentially a representative of a population. It should always be identified in relation to the population it was selected to represent. The purpose of using a sample is to generalize results and tie them back to the population. In other words, because populations are often too big to manage, we select for a smaller group of individuals within that population to represent it.
In summary, a population is the entire set of individuals of interest for a particular research question and a sample is a group of people researchers pick out within a population to represent the population.
Before conducting research, you usually start by asking a question about a specific group of people. For example, you could ask what the average income for high school drop outs is. Or how likely it is that a child raised by a single parent will drop out of high school. Researchers may be interested in finding out about specific characteristics of individuals within a population or even outside factors that influence them. The goal is not only to answer find information, but to then compare that information. For example, comparing the average income of high school drop outs to the average income of high school graduates. Only then can we have some idea of how significant the data really is.
Using the example above, the population (the group of people) we are asking a question about is high school drop outs. In other words, the entire group that we wish to study is called the population. This should always be made clear when presenting research. The population doesn't necessarily need to consist of people. A population can also consist of inanimate objects, organizations, animals or anything else you want to study. Corporations, pigeons, car parts, etc can be labeled as a population within a study.
Populations tend to be pretty big. The amount of high school drop outs in the U.S. is such a huge number, it would be nearly impossible to contact every single one of them and ask them questions. This is why social scientists and researchers use samples instead. A sample is essentially a representative of a population. It should always be identified in relation to the population it was selected to represent. The purpose of using a sample is to generalize results and tie them back to the population. In other words, because populations are often too big to manage, we select for a smaller group of individuals within that population to represent it.
In summary, a population is the entire set of individuals of interest for a particular research question and a sample is a group of people researchers pick out within a population to represent the population.
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