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Academic English & Research vocabulary · Research Design

Population

Meaning in academic english & research, with examples

/ˌpɒpjuˈleɪʃn/nounCore term

In academic english & research, population means: The whole group of people, cases or items that a study is about and from which a smaller sample is usually drawn.

In Turkish: evren, popülasyon, ana kütle

How it is used

Methods sections define the target population (for example, all public-school teachers in one province) and explain how the sample was selected from it. Results are generalized from the sample to the population. In statistics, population values are called parameters.

Example sentences

  1. The population of the study consisted of all nursing students at three state universities.

  2. Because the population was small, we invited every member to take part.

Common collocations

  • target population
  • study population
  • general population
  • representative of the population
  • sampleThe smaller group of people, items or texts selected from a larger population for a study, so that conclusions can be drawn about that population.
  • random samplingA way of choosing a sample in which every member of the population has an equal and known chance of being selected.
  • generalizabilityThe extent to which the findings of a study can be applied to other people, places or situations beyond the sample studied.
  • participantA person who takes part in a study, for example by answering a questionnaire, being interviewed or completing an experiment.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Research Design

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