Parents of children with developmental disorders can apply for federal funding for psychosocial rehabilitation. A government sociologist wants to know what percentage of applicants for this funding are in poverty. She obtains access to all their applications, groups the applications by state, and takes a simple random sample from each state's applications. Identify the population of interest to the sociologist.

a. Applicants for the federal funding who were in poverty
b. Applicants for the federal funding
c. Applicants who received the federal funding
d. Applicants whose applications were examined