A "small subgroup" refers to a small group or part that is formed within a larger group or population. It usually represents a subset or a specific category within the main group. Full definition
Within small subgroups of the population, however, religious viewing does seem to be associated with lower religious involvement.... (religion-online.org)
This was thoroughly explored in a psychological study called Getting the most out of multidisciplinary teams, wherein lead researcher Doris Fay found that multidisciplinary teams produced better quality innovations than more uniform teams, but that this boost in performance was only consistent if there wasn't a problem of teams fracturing into smaller subgroups. (entrepreneur.com)
The super subgroups combined smaller subgroups of low - performing or disadvantaged students, but Ed Week notes that «civil rights advocates argued they allowed states to mask the performance of some student subgroups.» (understandingessa.org)