🎯 What is Sampling? How is it different from a census?

🎯What is Sampling?

Answer: Sampling is the process of selecting a subset of individuals or units (called a sample) from a larger group or population to draw conclusions about the entire population. Since studying the whole population (called a census) is often expensive, time-consuming, or impractical, sampling provides a way to estimate population parameters like mean, proportion, or variance using statistical inference.

Example: If we want to estimate the average household income of Delhi, we can select 1,000 households from the total 20 lakh households and calculate the sample mean to estimate the population mean.

Cross Question: How is it different from a census?

A census involves collecting data from every unit of the population, whereas sampling collects data only from selected units.

• Census → 100% coverage, accurate but costly.

• Sampling → Less costly, quicker, but involves sampling error.