Which term describes a sample that fairly represents the population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion?

• A. Random sampling
• B. Simple random sample
• C. Sampling frame
• D. Representative sample

Answer: (A)

Random sampling focuses on letting chance determine who is included, so every member of the population has an equal opportunity to be selected. This equal-probability selection helps the sample reflect the population's characteristics and reduces selection bias, making it more representative in expectation as you draw larger samples. A simple random sample is a concrete way to implement this idea: you give each person an equal chance of being chosen, often by random numbers or a random draw. The other terms don’t describe the selection process itself—the sampling frame is just the list you draw from, and a representative sample describes how well the sample matches the population, which depends on more than just the method. Thus, random sampling is the best fit for the described concept.