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When starting a research study, the first step is identifying the research objective. The research objective states the main goal of the study. It involves defining what you are looking to investigate or learn from the research. In our example, the research objective is to determine how many hours per week full-time students at a specific large community college work while attending school.
A well-defined research objective will guide the entire research process, from formulating questions to analyzing data. It helps in keeping the study focused and relevant. By knowing exactly what you want to achieve, you can design the study more effectively and gather the right information to reach conclusions or make informed decisions.

In statistics, the population refers to the entire group that you are interested in studying. It includes every subject or item with the characteristics you are researching. Here, the population consists of all full-time students attending the large community college.
Understanding your population is crucial because it determines the scope and limitations of your study. Every member of this population could potentially provide data for the research, but practically, it's often challenging to study the entire population. Therefore, we usually study a smaller, manageable subset, called a sample, to draw conclusions about the population.
Accurately defining your population ensures that your research findings are relevant to the group you’re investigating. It also helps in generalizing the results of the sample to the broader group, provided the sample is chosen correctly.

A sample is a smaller group selected from the population that is intended to represent the characteristics of the full population. In our example, the sample consists of 128 full-time students who were randomly selected by the college administration.
Random sampling is one method to ensure that the sample fairly represents the population. This technique gives each member of the population an equal chance of being included, which helps in reducing bias. The more representative the sample, the more confidently we can generalize the findings from the sample to the larger population.
In a study, it’s crucial that the sample size is adequate. If the sample is too small, the study might not accurately reflect the population’s behaviors or characteristics. Conversely, a well-chosen, adequately sized sample can provide meaningful insights and valid conclusions about the whole population.