Population and Sample

Population
The totality of statistical information on a
particular character, from all members covered by
an investigation, is called population or universe.
For Example:- population of registered
management colleges in West Bengal i.e. the total
number of management colleges in West Bengal.
 Sample
The sample is a selected part of the population
and is used to throw light on the population
characteristics.
For example:-
1) In order to know the economic condition the
inhabitants of Calcutta city, if the monthly
income figures of each and every Calcuttan
could be obtained, the whole collection of figures
of income would constitute the “population of
income".
 This however, is impracticable to interview all the
inhabitants of Calcutta , so a part of the whole
population i.e. a few thousand inhabitants would
ordinarily be interviewed and their income figures
obtained. These few thousand figures of income
would comprise a “sample of income”, based on
which the average income is estimated which will
reveal the characteristics of the whole population.
2) Sampling method is used in Market Research for
assessing the possible market potential before
launching a new product.
In this case it is not feasible to interview all the
consumers of the market because of the time and
money constraint. So we have to select few
consumers as a representative of the whole market
and conduct the survey on the basis of their
interview.
3) Auditors use test check and test audit to only a
small fraction of all entries in the books of accounts
in order to verify the accuracy of all the entries,
whether either full verification is not possible or
considered unnecessary.
 Collection of statistical data
There are two ways of collection of
statistical data:-
1) Complete enumeration survey or census
method.
2) Sample survey method.
 Complete enumeration or census
survey method.
Under Complete enumeration survey method., data are
collected from each and every member of population.
For Example:-
 Census of population in India is an classic example of
complete enumeration.
 In order to know the consumers reactions to a particular
product, we may interview each and every person who uses
that product and that will be regarded as complete
enumeration survey method.
 Advantages and disadvantages of
complete enumeration:-
a) Information can be obtained for each and every
unit:-
If the information is required for each and every
unit of the population, a complete enumeration
survey is necessary. For example:-
 Preparation of voters’ list for election purpose
where the information of each individual of the
population is required to capture.
 Income tax assessment- where income of each
individual is assessed and taxed.
b) Great Accuracy:-
The results of the complete enumeration survey are expected to be
more accurate than the sample survey method because the
information is obtained for each and every unit.
But it may be noted that a complete enumeration survey need not
necessarily provide accurate information. The errors of complete
enumeration survey arises mainly from,
 Difficulties encountered in organising such a large scale survey.
 Incomplete coverage of the whole population.
 Tabulation error due to difficulties encountered in handling such a
large scale data.
 Difficulties in getting adequate trained personals in order to
conduct the survey.
and these errors can not be calculated.

Moreover the effort, money and time required for carrying out
complete enumeration will generally be extremely large.
 Sample survey method.
In the sample survey method, instead of
studying every unit of the population, only a
part of the population i.e. sample is studied
and conclusions are drawn on the basis of
this sample for the entire population.
 Advantages of sample survey over the
complete enumeration method.
1) Sample survey takes less time,labour and money
than is necessary in complete enumeration,
because only a part of the whole population is
investigate.
2) Sample survey yields more accurate result than
complete enumeration, because of the
deployment of specially trained investigators
and the possibility of better control and
supervision over them. But complete
enumeration requires a large number of
investigators, all of whom cannot be expected to
have proper training.
3) An extra advantage of sample survey method is that
here the magnitude of the error is known and can be
theoretically calculated which is not possible in case of
complete enumeration.
4) In come cases, complete enumeration is not feasible
and sample survey method is the only way.
For example:-
 In order to test average life of a bulb, we can not test
all the bulbs because it will be destructive , so here we
have to select few bulbs in order to conduct the test.
 A rice merchant can not afford to examine every
single grain of rice before purchase. He has to depend
on sample, based on which he forms an idea about the
quality of rice.
Because of these advantages mentioned above the
sample survey is more popular than complete
enumeration.