1) In your own words, define the following terms: population, census, and sample.

A population refers to the entire group of individuals or items that share a characteristic and are of interest in a study. Basically, think of it as all the possible players on a sports team! A census is a comprehensive count or survey of the population, aiming to gather data on every member, much like a coach wanting to know all the stats of every player. A sample, on the other hand, is a smaller section drawn from the population, used to get insights without having to gather data from everyone—like selecting a few players to assess the team's overall performance. Gathering data with these terms in mind is crucial for decision-making in fields like marketing and healthcare! For instance, businesses often rely on census data, but they frequently use samples by surveying a subset of customers to save time and costs while still gathering useful insights.