Population is a generalization area consisting of: objects / subjects that have certain qualities and characteristics determined by researchers to get conclusions.

Finite Population

A finite population is a collection of objects or individuals that are objects of research that occupy a certain area. It clear boundaries that distinguish these population groups from other populations.

For example: the population of ducks in one cage, the number of A class students, the male population in an environment, and so on.

So the population is not only people, but also objects and other natural objects. Population is also not just the amount that exists on the object / subject studied. It includes all the characteristics / properties possessed by the subject or object.

For example, doing research in college Y, then college Y is the population. College Y has a number of people / subjects and other objects. This relates to the population in terms of quantity / quantity. But college Y also has the characteristics of its people. For example: its work motivation; work discipline; leadership; organizational climate and others. Furthermore: it also has other object characteristics: such as policies, work procedures, classroom layout, graduates produced and others.

One person can be as a population. Since, one person has various characteristics: style of speech, personal discipline, hobbies, ways to get along, his leadership and others. It will conduct research on President Y’s leadership then that leadership is a sample of all the characteristics possessed by President Y.

In the medicine, one person often acts as a population but not representing the unit of analysis. The blood is unit of analysis itself. If you want to observe the blood. Certainly, the population is person due to the blood inside the person.

Infinite Population

Infinite population is a collection of objects or individuals that are no boundaries or we can not measure about the total number of individuals in the occupied territories. For example, the population of stars in space, the number of red blood cells in a person’s body, and so on.

A large population will make it difficult for researchers to conduct a research. Requiring a lot of time and money to observe all populations. For the reason that a study of only needs some elements to represent the population. That is sampling.

Basically we can change infinite populations to finite population. We only need to impose limits on the population that we will observe. For instance, infinite population of fish in the ocean. By changing the fish population space, for example we put it in a pond or aquarium. It will become a finite/limited population. Even more, limited population is able to count, rather unlimited population has a number beyond our ability to count.

Regarding population, the smallest unit in a population is an element. Element is our observation focus. In these elements we will observe the characteristics of each element. Researchers call it a variable. As a result variable is source of information of the population.