DEFENSE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHOD POPULASI AND SAMPLE Volume 3

Abstract

A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about. Meanwhile, a sample is the specific group that you will collect data from. The size of the sample is always less than the total size of the population. In research, a population doesn’t always refer to people. It can mean a group containing elements of anything you want to study, such as objects, events, organizations, countries, species, organisms, etc. A sample is simply a subset of the population. The concept of sample arises from the inability of the researchers to test all the individuals in a given population. The sample must be representative of the population from which it was drawn and it must have good size to warrant statistical analysis. The main function of the sample is to allow the researchers to conduct the study to individuals from the population so that the results of their study can be used to derive conclusions that will apply to the entire population. It is much like a give-and-take process. The population “gives” the sample, and then it “takes” conclusions from the results obtained from the sample.