The first level of stratification involves dividing the country
into administrative divisions. Some countries have
regions, states, provinces and counties, and it may not
be clear which level of administrative division to choose.
Your choice should balance the need to include a sizeable
proportion of the country in the final sample with your
resource limitations. For example, if you divide a country
into 500 counties and then select 10, it is likely that
important areas will be missed. On the other hand, if a
large country is divided into four regions, fieldworkers
within these regions will have to cover large distances to visit interview sites and your attempt to conserve resources
by selecting fewer administrative divisions may backfire.
Once the jurisdiction type has been selected, use discussions
with demographers, academics, statisticians, sociologists,
United Nations staff (e.g., military and human right
officers of the peacekeeping mission) and any available
documents or data to understand the intensity and reach
of the conflict. Based on this knowledge, assign each administrative
division