Simple Compromise Strategies in Multivariate Stratification

Stratification (among other applications) is a popular technique used in survey practice to improve the accu- racy of estimators. Its full potential benefit can be gained by the effective use of auxiliary variables in stratification related to survey variables. This paper focuses on the problem of stratum formation when multiple stratification variables are available. We first review a variance reduction strategy in the case of univariate stratification. We then discuss its use for multivariate situations in convenient and efficient ways using three methods: compro- mised measures of size, principal components analysis and a K-means clustering algorithm. We also consider three types of compromising factors to data when using these three methods. Finally, we compare their efficiency using data from MU281 Swedish municipality population.