Final answer:
The correct order from greatest to least variation is a sample of 5 women, followed by 20 women, then 45 women, and lastly 60 women, as larger samples have less variability and are more representative of the population.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine which sample would have the greatest to least variation, we must understand that sampling variability refers to how much a statistic, like the mean or average, varies from sample to sample within a population. The greater the number of observations or size of the sample, the smaller the variability tends to be. This is because larger samples are more likely to closely represent the true population characteristics.
Based on this concept, we can infer that a sample with a larger number of women would have less variation in measures like body fat percentage, due to it being more reflective of the population. Conversely, a sample with a smaller number of women would show greater variation since it has less chance to reflect the population accurately. Therefore, the correct order from the sample with the greatest variation to the sample with the least variation would be:
Sample of 5 women
Sample of 20 women
Sample of 45 women
Sample of 60 women