Professor Steel completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Adelaide,
receiving a BSc with majors in Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics in 1973. In
1974 he undertook an honours year in Mathematical Statistics supported by a Cadetship
from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). A Masters Degree in Statistics by
coursework at the Australian National University was completed in 1978 and in 1982
Professor Steel obtained a Public Service Postgraduate Study Award, which enabled him to
undertake a PhD in the Department of Social Statistics at the University of Southampton.
Completing the PhD in 1985, he returned to the ABS to become Director of the Sampling
(Social Statistics) Section. In 1992 Professor Steel moved to the University of
Wollongong so that he could research more deeply into the issues associated with
obtaining and analysing data from real world populations. In 2004 Professor Steel
established the Centre for Statistical and Survey Methodology (CSSM) and has served as
its Director since then. CSSM is now a recognised research strength of the University of
Wollongong, and has over 20 academic staff members, including four research professors,
two of which are funded by industry partners. 

Field of Study: Survey methodology, sample survey design and analysis methods for complex
social and economic data. Current projects consider the interaction between the way the
data are obtained and how they should be analysed when the data are obtained using
sampling and/or aggregation from complex populations. It also includes research on
telephone survey methods and new approaches to the design and analysis of repeated
surveys 

Professional Activities and Affiliations: • Foundation Member, Methodological Advisory
Committee, Australian Bureau of Statistics (1996-) • Associate Editor, Survey Methodology
(2004-) • Associate Editor. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series A). (2010-)
• Chair of International Association of Survey Statisticians Programme Committee for 56th
session of International Statistical Institute, Lisbon (2007) • International assessor
for the ARC and the UK ESRC • Leader of the Applied Statistics Education and Research
Collaboration, which is funded by a major grant from DEST under the Collaboration and
Structural Reform Fund. • Project member with: • ABS • NZ Ministry of Health • NSW Health 

Current Research Students: • Diane Hindmarsh : Small Area Estimation for Health Surveys •
Margo Barr : Assessing the Quality of Probability-Sampled Complex-Design Multipurpose
Ongoing Health Surveys • Li-Chia Yeh : Design and Analysis of Nutrition Surveys • Martin
Murphy : Non-Response in Australian Educational Surveys • Alexandra Burden : Spatial
Epidemiology with Small Area Data • Preeya Riyapan : Goodness of Fit Tests with Complex
Survey Data 

No subject area

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Can telephone surveys for the whole population provide reliable information on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians? (with Margo L. Barr, Anthony Dillon, and Mazen Kassis), Centre for Statistical & Survey Methodology Working Paper Series (2012)

Objective: To compare prevalence estimates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians collected through a...

 

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Inclusion of mobile phone numbers into an ongoing population health survey in Australia using an overlapping dual frame: description of methods, call outcomes and acceptance by staff and respondents (with Margo Barr, Jason J. van Ritten, and Sarah V. Thackway), Centre for Statistical & Survey Methodology Working Paper Series (2012)

In Australia telephone surveys has been the method of choice for ongoing population health surveys....

 

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Multiple membership models for social network and group dependencies (with Mark Tranmer and William J. Browne), Centre for Statistical & Survey Methodology Working Paper Series (2012)

Multilevel models have been developed and applied for individuals in groups, such as schools or...

 

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Potential gains from sample design using unit level cost information, Centre for Statistical & Survey Methodology Working Paper Series (2012)

In developing the sample design for a survey we usually attempt to produce a good...

 

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The impact of complex survey design on prevalence estimates of intakes of food groups in the Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (with Sandy Burden, Yasmine Probst, and Linda C. Tapsell), Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (2012)