Browsing by Author "Seiss, Mark Thomas"

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    Impact Evaluation of the Mozambique Rural Water Supply Activity
    Hall, Ralph P.; Davis, Jenna; Van Houweling, Emily; Vance, Eric A.; Carzolio, Marcos; Seiss, Mark Thomas; Russel, Kory (Virginia Tech. School of Public and International Affairs, 2014-08)
    In 2007, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a $506.9 million compact designed to reduce poverty in Mozambique by promoting sustainable economic growth. Among the planned investments was the installation of 600 improved water points in rural communities across the provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado. In addition to the installation of the water points, the Rural Water Points Installation Program (RWPIP) also mobilized water committees to maintain the infrastructure and provided trainings to water committees and community members. Most of the water points are boreholes equipped with Afridev handpumps, but in Cabo Delgado ten small-scale solar systems (SSSS) were installed where there was sufficient water supply and unmet demand. The Rural Water Supply Activity (RWSA) of the Mozambique Compact is intended to increase sustainable access to improved water supply in some of the country’s poorest districts. This report provides the results from an impact evaluation of the Millennium Challenge Account’s (MCA’s) Rural Water Point Implementation Program (RWPIP) in Nampula. Datasets that accompany this report can be accessed at the following URL: https://data.lib.vt.edu/collections/wd375w28x
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    Improving Survey Methodology Through Matrix Sampling Design, Integrating Statistical Review Into Data Collection, and Synthetic Estimation Evaluation
    Seiss, Mark Thomas (Virginia Tech, 2014-05-13)
    The research presented in this dissertation touches on all aspects of survey methodology, from questionnaire design to final estimation. We first approach the questionnaire development stage by proposing a method of developing matrix sampling designs, a design where a subset of questions are administered to a respondent in such a way that the administered questions are predictive of the omitted questions. The proposed methodology compares favorably to previous methods when applied to data collected from a household survey conducted in the Nampula province of Mozambique. We approach the data collection stage by proposing a structured procedure of implementing small-scale surveys in such a way that non-sampling error attributed to data collection is minimized. This proposed methodology requires the inclusion of the statistician in the data editing process during data collection. We implemented the structured procedure during the collection of household survey data in the city of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. We found indications that the data resulting from the structured procedure is of higher quality than the data with no editing. Finally, we approach the estimation phase of sample surveys by proposing a model-based approach to the estimation of the mean squared error associated with synthetic (indirect) estimates. Previous methodology aggregates estimates for stability, while our proposed methodology allows area-specific estimates. We applied the proposed mean squared error estimation methodology and methods found during literature review to simulated data and estimates from 2010 Census Coverage Measurement (CCM). We found that our proposed mean squared error estimation methodology compares favorably to the previous methods, while allowing for area-specific estimates.