We make generalizations every day about groups of people or things. It is important when making generalizations that we have a good sample. If I was doing a survey on the necessity of shaving and only interviewed girls I shouldn’t generalize and say that everyone thinks shaving is important. Because I did not survey any males in my study my outcome is inaccurate. Another important aspect of generalizing is to make sure my sample is representative. On top of interviewing both sexes I should also search for people of different cultures and ages. I should try and make sure that I have a large sized group of randomly selected people that I interview as well. Lastly I should have made sure my sample was studied well. I should make sure the people I am interviewing fit the criteria of my study. For example I wouldn’t interview my 6 year old cousin about shaving because she is too young t shave.
I really liked and comprehended the example you used on shaving. This is because it is a real life example which is simple and easily understandable. Everyone makes generalizations all the time. If a generalization wants to be accurate then a wide random population should be chosen. If that would be the case then all these statistical stuff would have to be done to make the generalization as accurate as possible. That would fit in with making the sample representative, like you said you can not ask a six year old girl questions about shaving because she is too young.
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