Final answer:
Surveys are a crucial tool in social sciences, allowing data to be collected from a sample that represents the whole population. A representative sample is key to generalizing findings, and measures of central tendency provide summary statistics for the data collected.
Explanation:TT
Survey data can indeed be generalized to the entire population if the survey methodology is sound and the sample is representative. Surveys are used extensively in social sciences to collect data from a certain number of people—who make up a sample—that represents the entire population. An effective survey provides researchers with information from a larger sample, which reflects the diversity within the population, leading to better generalizability. For example, results of a Gallup Poll conducted through a nationwide random sampling can be used to estimate public opinion accurately, regardless of the sample size used in the survey.
Having a random sample, where every individual in the population has an equal chance of being selected, plays a crucial role in how well the survey results can represent the population. The calculation of measures of central tendency such as the mean, median, and mode from the data helps in summarizing the collected responses and is essential for further analysis. While surveys offer a broader perspective than case studies, they may lack the depth of information that could be obtained from a case study.