You have received a grant to study drug usage among college students in the United States. You want to be able to make some generalizations about drug usage amongĀ allĀ college students in America, generalizations about how many students use drugs, the types and frequency of drugs used, and the characteristics of users (such as age and gender). You will be using a stratified cluster sample in which you stratify on at least two variables and sample in at least two stages. There is no single list that you can get that contains the names of all college students in America. So, what sampling units (clusters) can you select at different stages that will ultimately result in a representative sample of all college students? Assume that any college can supply you with a list of all its students. The variables you stratify on should be relevant to your study and should be those for which you have information. For example, you could stratify on grade level, but not on church attendance since the first, but not the second, would be available on the list of names from a college.
Describe the stratified cluster sample you would use. Stratify on at least two variables and explain why you made the decisions you did in terms of which variables to use for stratification. Sample at least two stages, including the final sampling unit. Describe the type of sampling procedure you would use at each stage of sampling and explain why you selected the sampling procedures you did at each stage. Be sure to note how many schools, students, etc. that you have in the various stages of sampling. Discuss the limitations of your sample.