Choosing an appropriate sample unit is a fundamental decision in the design of ecological studies. While numer-ous methods have been developed to estimate organism abundance, they differ in cost, accuracy and precision.Using both field data and computer simulation modeling, we evaluated the costs and benefits associated with twomethods commonly used to sample benthic organisms in temperatc kelp forests. One of these methods, theTargeted Sampling method, relies on different sample units, each "targeted" for a specific species or group ofspecies while the other method relies on coefficients that represent ranges of bottom cover obtained from visual esti-mates within standardized sample units. Both the field data and the computer simulations suggest that both meth-ods yield remarkably similar estimates of organisnm abundance and among-site variability, although the Coefficientmethod slightly underestimates variability armong sample units when abundances are low. In contrast, the twomethods differ considerably in the effort needed to sample these communities; the Targeted Sampling requiresmore time and twice the persormel to complete. We conclude that the Coeffident Sampling metliod may be bettcrfor environmental monitoring programs where changes in mean abundance are of central conccm and resources arelimiting, but that the Targeted sampling methods may be better for ecological studies where quantitative reIation-ships among species and small-scale variability in abundance are of central concern.