Meaning & use
target population
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Meanings
nouncountable
The specific group of people that a study, product, or program is designed to reach or affect.
Grammar: Countable; often used with 'the' when the group is already known: the target population of the survey.
Patterns
- the target population for something
- reach the target population
- define the target population
The target population for the new vaccine was adults over sixty-five.
Researchers struggled to reach the target population in rural areas.
The company changed its target population after the first sales figures came in.
nouncountabletechnical
In statistics, the complete set of individuals about which a researcher wants to draw conclusions.
Grammar: Technical use; often contrasted with 'sample', the smaller group actually studied.
Patterns
- the target population of a study
- sample from the target population
The target population was all students enrolled at the university that year.
Because the target population was so large, the team surveyed only a sample.
Word forms
| plural | target populations |
|---|
Common combinations
- reach the target population
- The charity used radio ads to reach its target population.
- define the target population
- Before writing the questionnaire, define the target population clearly.
- the target population for a study
- The target population for the study was people aged 18 to 30.
- expand the target population
- They decided to expand the target population to include older adults.
- a representative sample of the target population
- A representative sample of the target population was selected at random.
Synonyms and how they differ
- audience
- Use 'audience' for the people a message, show, or advertisement is aimed at; 'target population' is more formal and common in research or planning.
- demographic
- 'Demographic' refers to a particular segment defined by age, income, etc.; 'target population' is the whole group a project aims to serve.
- study group
- 'Study group' usually means the people actually examined, while 'target population' means everyone the researcher wants to say something about.
Word family
- target verb
- to aim something at a particular group or market
- targeted adjective
- aimed at a specific group: targeted advertising
- population noun
- all the people living in a place or belonging to a group
Commonly confused: target population or sample?
target population vs sample
A sample is the smaller part of the target population that you actually collect data from; the target population is the whole group you want to understand.
Practice
In a research report, which phrase correctly describes the whole group the study wants to understand?
Choose one answer.
The target population is the entire group of interest, so 'all residents of the city' fits. Option A reverses the terms (the sample is part of the population), C confuses sampling with the population itself, and D is awkward and unclear.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “target population”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.