Quality Assurance of Agile Statistical Methodology in Informing Better Decisions in Humanitarian Emergencies

• Activity Number: 642
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 13, 2015 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Chris Barker* and Asaph Young Chun* and James J. Cochran* and Edward Gracely* and Yu-chieh Lin*
• Companies: Statistical Planning and Analysis Services, Inc. and U.S. Census Bureau and The University of Alabama and Drexel University and University of Michigan
• Keywords: quality assurance ; project management ; survey methodology ; pro bono service ; humanitarian crisis ; public policy

Abstract

Could statistical methodology be both agile and high quality enough to help resolve humanitarian crises that have fast and lasting impacts on many people's lives? Survey statisticians and methodologists affiliated with Statistics Without Borders (SWB), an official outreach arm of the American Statistical Association, conduct dozens of pro bono consulting projects each year, mostly in developing countries. SWB leaders and project coordinators will discuss current practices of quality control for planning, executing and closing of each consulting project benefiting the disadvantaged population, their merits and drawbacks, and best practices we may learn from the quality assurance community and social science. The panel will address quality assurance principles by discussing short- and long-term case projects of SWB which have used statistical methodology and interdisciplinary thinking to assist non-governmental organizations and UN agencies in making data-driven decisions in humanitarian crises around the world.