ABSTRACT
In stratified random sampling, a population is divided into subgroups or strata. To illustrate using the stratification variable of gender, two separate lists are prepared: one of all males and one of all females in the population of interest. Separate random samples then are drawn from each of the two lists representing the two categories of: gender. Stratification is the process of dividing a population into subgroups or strata that are relatively homogeneous and drawing separately from each stratum. This reduces the possibility that information from a given sample misrepresents the population. Gender and race often are employed to stratify a population prior to sampling. Some studies have challenged a long-prevailing notion that free women held unusually high economic status in colonial America.
