Introductions will begin with complex survey data, SAE, space-time modeling, and Bayesian statistics and then bring these topics together to show how reliable SAE estimation can be performed. The course will end with a complex application: space-time smoothing of under-5 infant mortality using demographic and health survey (DHS) data. This application is part of an on-going collaboration that the instructors have with UNICEF. In this context, the use of both full and summary birth history data will be described. Throughout, hands-on experience will be gained through the use of the instructors’ SUMMER R package that carries out space-time smoothing of area-level complex survey data, based on methodology that has been published1 by the instructors.
