2 Introduction to the book

This book presents practical statistical methods for analyzing survey data and evaluating health policies, with a focus on applications in epidemiology and health services research. The motivating examples are drawn from three main data sources:

• National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
• Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
• Routine health information systems and policy evaluations from Rwanda

The goal is to bridge the gap between methods textbooks and real analytic workflows. Throughout the book, we will:

• Work with complex survey designs (weights, strata, PSUs)
• Fit regression models commonly used in epidemiology
• Implement interrupted time series (ITS) and controlled ITS designs
• Apply methods to real questions in maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, and health system performance

R is used for all demonstrations. Code examples are written to be reproducible and annotated so that readers with limited statistical background can follow the logic step by step.