ABSTRACT
Much political research involves testing hypotheses about large numbers of people, political activities, units of government, or policies. In such cases, it is usually impractical to collect data concerning the entire population or universe in which we are interested. The solution is to study a subset or sample of cases drawn from that population. Underlying this tactic is the assumption that we can learn something about the larger group in question by studying a sample of its members. Effective sampling enables us to do just this.
