When we use descriptive general words in an attempt to communicate vague or general ideas, some students don't get it. Some students cannot parse complicated statements. Conditional statements may be interpreted as assertion of both the hypothesis and the conclusion. Parameter A parameter is a numeric feature of a population . Population A population is a collection of concrete or abstract objects which can be described or listed in unambiguous form and which is of interest to us for some purpose we have.
Textbooks often emphasize the difference between finite and infinite populations.
While this distinction is important in statistical theory, it is not closely related to student experiemce. When we have only a description, it is necessary that we be sure of our ability to decide for any object whether or not it belongs to the population. When the population is defined by a list, we have to consider how the information about the population would help solve the problem that we study. The choice of a sampling frame puts the problem in its correct context. In fact, every description must be translated into a list to support practical research.