One common purpose for surveys is to find out how people feel about candidates for a political office. Every four years, Texas elects statewide officeholders. In 2012, there were about 26,400,000 people living in Texas. Of these, approximately 14,000,000 were eligible to vote.
The entire group that a survey seeks to describe is called the population. 14,000,000 people is a lot of people to ask about how they feel about particular candidates. So, instead of surveying every member of the population, a political pollster might ask a small part of the population, or a sample of the population.
Survey samples must be carefully constructed, otherwise there could be problems when interpreting the survey results.
Important Note!
For a survey to lead to accurate conclusions, the sample must be representative of the population. Random samples are the best way to ensure that the sample represents the entire population.
Sort the samples into two categories, random samples and non-random samples, by clicking on the column header for the appropriate category.