Question

If the sample data was properly gathered and when the sample mean is calculated, if the sample mean is different than the population mean, what type of error would this be considered?

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer would be sampling error.

Explanation:

Sampling error occurs when the sample taken is unrepresentative of the overall population. A study population is a group of individuals selected for research who all share a common characteristic. Ideally a sample is a random selection of people from the study population. You get a sampling error when the sample is not representative of the entire study population.  This can occur for example if your study population is anyone under the age of 2, for example, and some other characteristic is over represented in your sample, like you only selected 2 year-olds from upper class families. This is something that could make the sample mean different from the population mean.