Which concept refers to the degree to which findings about one group can be applied to a larger group?

• A. Secondary Data
• B. Representativeness
• C. Official Statistics
• D. Non-official Statistics

Answer: (B)

Representativeness is about how well a study’s sample reflects the broader population so that the findings can be generalised beyond the group studied. When the sample shares the key characteristics of the whole population—such as age, gender, social class, and ethnicity—the results are more likely to apply to the larger group. If the sample is biased or too small, the findings may not hold in different settings or for different people, making generalisation risky. For example, researching urban teenagers and trying to apply the conclusions to all teenagers requires a representative sample to be meaningful. The other options describe data sources or types of data rather than the idea of applying findings to a larger group: secondary data are data collected by someone else, and official or non-official statistics refer to types of data sources, not the generalisability of results.