The questionnaire asked a sampling of residents to choose among a list of options for the development complex.
The poll by a private group, Research and Research, asked a sample of 2,000 people their preference among the three candidates.
When the researchers described an activity and asked a sample of 199 professional economists to identify its opportunity cost, only one in five answered correctly.
One study from 1998 asked a sample of 185 participants to record their dreams for two consecutive weeks.
But ask a sampling of Time Warner observers, everyone from investors to analysts to other media executives, what Mr. Bewkes's strategy should be, and you will likely get as many different answers as there are people in your sample.
Playing a computer game or browsing the web is far less wonky than asking a sample group to label trees, cars and clouds in images.
But we can't ask everyone - the costs are too high - so we ask a sample, a subset of the population that has been 'pulled' and then quizzed.
You could ask a random sampling of servers across the country, "who are the worst tippers?" and they'll all tell you a very similar list.
We asked a random sampling of girls for their deepest, darkest secret.
Recently, pollsters from Quinnipiac University asked a random sample of voters which word they most associated with various candidates.
