Multistage sampling is commonly used for household surveys when there exists
no sampling frame, or when the population is scattered over a wide area.
Multistage sampling usually introduces a complex dependence in the selection of
the final units, which makes asymptotic results quite difficult to prove. In
this work, we consider multistage sampling with simple random without
replacement sampling at the first stage, and with an arbitrary sampling design
for further stages. We consider coupling methods to link this sampling design
to sampling designs where the primary sampling units are selected
independently. We first generalize a method introduced by [Magyar Tud. Akad.
Mat. Kutat\'{o} Int. K\"{o}zl. 5 (1960) 361-374] to get a coupling with
multistage sampling and Bernoulli sampling at the first stage, which leads to a
central limit theorem for the Horvitz--Thompson estimator. We then introduce a
new coupling method with multistage sampling and simple random with replacement
sampling at the first stage. When the first-stage sampling fraction tends to
zero, this method is used to prove consistency of a with-replacement bootstrap
for simple random without replacement sampling at the first stage, and
consistency of bootstrap variance estimators for smooth functions of totals.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/15-AOS1348 in the Annals of
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org