After Defining the Variables Involved in a Study, Scientists Have

Essay

After defining the variables involved in a study, scientists have to identify individuals to study. The population is the group of individuals to whom we hope our conclusions will apply. Researchers generally hope that their conclusions will apply to a large population, such as all 5-year-olds or all people with schizophrenia. Because it is not practical to examine everyone in the population, researchers study a sample of people and assume that the results for the sample apply to the whole population. Briefly define the following types of samples and give one example for each; convenience sample, representative sample, random sample, and cross cultural sample.