The emphasis of my research is identification of populations who are under-represented in household surveys and other official data, and development of tools and protocols to improve population data accuracy.
This work is particularly relevant in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where routine household surveys are used to set and evaluate policies, and track international targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals. Household survey methods were established in the early 1980s, but have not changed much since. My research is focused on methods to address decay in survey accuracy due to major social shifts that have modified household configuration and behaviors over the last four decades, including urbanization and increased mobility. A key component of improving survey accuracy is mapping deprived versus not-deprived urban areas.