Evaluations and improvements in small area estimation methodologies

Small area estimation (SAE) of survey data down to small area level has become an increasingly widespread activity as scholars and policy-makers have sought to gain ever more detailed spatial information to better target interventions or resources and to evaluate local policy impacts. Ongoing discussions around the future of the census in the UK context potentially add additional importance to SAE. Despite these demands there is little agreement within the academic community as to which of the various alternative SAE methods is ‘best’ or, alternatively, in which local contexts each works most effectively. This network gathered together 20 national and international experts in various SAE methodologies from academia and government (e.g. the Office for National Statistics and Teagasc) to answer these questions.

The network operated for 12 months from May 1st 2012. Three workshops for network participants took place at the Department of Geography, University of Sheffield in order to discuss and progress the network’s research activities.

An initial 3 day kick-off workshop was held on 23-Fri 25 May 2012, after which an interim workshop was held on 16-17 October 2012. The final workshop 'Principles and practices in small area estimation' was held on 26 April 2013.

Listen to Dr Adam Whitworth in NCRM podcast series talk about his work on small area estimation methodologies. A methodological review paper 'Evaluations and improvements in small area estimation methodologies' by Whitworth et al is also available online.


For further information, please see the project website or contact:

Dr Adam Whitworth
Department of Geography

University of Sheffield

Email: adam.whitworth@sheffield.ac.uk