Population
Also called: Universe · Topic: Economic Data: Census, NSS, Surveys and Statistical Tools · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Collection of Data"; Class 11, Ch 8 "Use of Statistical Tools"
Meaning
In statistics, the population (or universe) means every unit that has the characteristic under study. It is not only people. It can be farms, firms or households. The purpose of the study decides what the population is. Collecting data from every unit is a census. Studying only a part of it is a sample survey, whose results are then applied to the whole population.
Example
NCERT's example studies agricultural labourers in Churachandpur district, Manipur. There, the population is all agricultural labourers in the district, and the sample is 10% of them.
Don't confuse with
- Sample: the sample is the part of the population from which data are actually collected.
- Population of a country: this is the headcount of people, such as India's 121.09 crore in Census 2011. That is only one kind of statistical population.
Related concepts
- Census
- Sample survey
- Sample
- Representative sample
- Population parameter
- Random sampling
- Non-random sampling
- Sampling frame
- Lottery method
- Random number table