Population

Generally, a collection of individuals with common characteristics. In statistics, a potentially infinite collection of independent (see independence ) units that include all units of a specified type with attention paid only to the aggregate (see aggregation ) property of the collection. A sample of data drawn from this population is a subset of the units constituting this population and scientific generalizations from such samples are limited by the size of the population originally specified (see model, representation ). (Krippendorff )