What does "items of information used to draw conclusions about, or to describe, a population" refer to in statistics?

In statistics, the phrase "items of information used to draw conclusions about, or to describe, a population" best corresponds to the concept of a sample. A sample refers to a subset of individuals or observations drawn from a larger population, and it is through the analysis of this sample that statisticians make inferences about the population as a whole. The goal of taking a sample is to represent the population adequately while collecting manageable amounts of data.

When researchers gather data from a sample, they can estimate population parameters and test hypotheses, enabling them to understand broader trends and characteristics without needing to survey every member of the population. This method is essential in statistical practice, especially when working with large populations where gathering complete data is impractical or impossible.

Other terms in the options have distinct meanings that do not align directly with the definition provided. For instance, "data" refers to the numeric or categorical values collected from observations or experiments. "Variable" indicates a characteristic or attribute that can take on different values among subjects, and "statistics" typically describes the results derived from analyzing data or the field of study focused on data interpretation and inference. None of these concepts captures the essence of a subset used to represent or infer conclusions about the larger group as sufficiently as "sample