A researcher wants to develop a product for families who have small children. He needs to determine if there is a nationwide interest in a toy that will help children describe their emotions. He asks only a sample of the population to complete his survey. What should be true of the sample so that the results of the survey can be used to predict the results of surveying the population?

To use a survey of a sample to predict how the whole population would respond, the sample should be representative of that population. Here, the surveyed families should reflect the families nationwide who have small children. The sample does not need to be as large as the population, and it must be drawn from the population it represents.

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