Designing Multistage Samples

Abstract

Previous chapters have covered the design of samples selected in a single stage. However, sampling is often done using more than one stage. There are a number of reasons why cluster or multistage sampling may be used. Using multistage samples can often be a practical and cost-efficient solution in situations where a list of elementary (or analytic) units is not available for direct sampling. In those cases, a list of elementary units can be compiled within just the sample clusters rather than for the whole frame. This is especially useful in household samples if a list of every household in a country, state, county, etc., is not available. In other cases, permission to do a survey may have to be obtained at the cluster level. For example, if the goal is to administer a standardized test to a sample of students, administrators in the school district or in the school may have to grant permission to do the survey.