"The
term "population" is used in statistics to represent all possible
measurements or outcomes that are of interest to us in a particular
study."
Examples:
Cedar Crest students; trees in North America; automobiles with four
wheels; people who consume olive oil
Sample
"The
term "sample" refers to a portion of the population that is
representative of the population from which it was selected."
Examples
assuming the populations stated above: 47 Cedar Crest students chosen
randomly; 8463 trees randomly selected in North America; 20 sample
autos from each make (e.g., GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc.); 1% of the
oil consuming population per country
Source: Your textbook by Robert A. Donnelly Jr., Ph.D.