Sampling (statistics)

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In statistics, quality assurance, and survey methodology, sampling is the selection of a subset of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the whole population. The subset, called a statistical sample (or sample, for short), is meant to reflect the whole population, and statisticians attempt to collect samples that are representative of the population. When sampling, statisticians aim towards collecting an unbiased group, and to do it judiciously. Sampling has lower costs and faster data collection compared to a census recording data from the entire population (in many cases, collecting the whole population is essentially impossible, like getting sizes of all stars in the universe). Thus, it can provide insights in cases where it is infeasible to measure an entire population. Each observation measures one or more properties (such as weight, location, color or mass) of independent objects or individuals. In survey sampling, weights can be applied...

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