what is a mean 
a mean is a metric used in statistics and research it is the average for at least two numbers the mean may be determined by adding up all the numbers and dividing the result by the number of numbers in that set this is known as the arithmetic mean you can determine the geometric mean by multiplying the values of a data set and taking the root of the sum equal to the number of values within that data set the bottom lineresearchers aren t able to make conclusions about very large groups because of the number of subjects involved that s why they use sampling sampling allows them to take a small group from a large population and analyze data once that data is collected researchers can plot out sampling distributions which allow them to determine whether an event may take place within a certain population this may include business growth or population trends which can help businesses governments and other entities make better decisions for the future 