Which gives the best definition of a representative sample?
an entire population.
a sample that has the same general characteristics of the target population.
a sample that does not fairly represent a given population.
any part of a population.

The correct answer is B) a sample that has the same general characteristics of the target population.

The best definition of a representative sample is a sample that has the same general characteristics of the target population.

In polls or surveys, researches use representative samples because it is very difficult to apply the surveys or polls to an entire population. So researchers use a sample that has the same general characteristics of the target population in order to have a valid representation and then, the results can be correct or generate a tendency.  

1. international: struggle for hegemony and empire outstrips the fiscal resources of the state

2. political conflict: conflict between the monarchy and the nobility over the “reform” of the tax system led to paralysis and bankruptcy.

3. the enlightenment: impulse for reform intensifies political conflicts; reinforces traditional aristocratic constitutionalism, one variant of which was laid out in montequieu’s spirit of the laws; introduces new notions of good government, the most radical being popular sovereignty, as in rousseau’s social contract [1762]; the attack on the regime and privileged class by the literary underground of “grub street; ” the broadening influence of public opinion.

4. social antagonisms between two rising groups: the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie

5. ineffective ruler: louis xvi

6. economic hardship, especially the agrarian crisis of 1788-89 generates popular discontent and disorders caused by food shortages.

a system in which products were made rapidly by machines