Video Transcript
True or False: A population
includes all of the elements from a set of data.
To determine whether the statement
is true or false, let’s consider how we define a population, an element, and a data
set. We recall that a population is the
complete group of people or objects that are the target of a statistical study. A data set is a collection of
variable values associated with the members of either a population or a sample of a
population. And an element of a data set is an
individual member of the population or sample with which variable values are
associated.
Let’s see how this works in an
example. Suppose a survey is conducted on
the butterfly population in a particular nature reserve. Of course, we would not be able to
collect data on the whole population since we’d have to catch every single butterfly
in the reserve. Instead, we would take a random
sample of butterflies and list their characteristics before releasing them. So, in this case, the data set
consists of all of the information collected and listed in the table.
Each individual butterfly listed is
an element, where in this case these elements form a sample of the population. And so we see that all of the
elements from the data set are members of the population. This example illustrates then that
the statement given is true. A population includes all of the
elements from a set of data.
