The question
Could the team estimate legal needs among low-income Indiana households without commissioning a new representative population survey?
The work
Nedim identified the existing national Justice Gap survey and combined its responses with Census and American Community Survey data. Using spatial microsimulation in R, he weighted survey responses to reflect Indiana's population characteristics and repeated the simulations to estimate the prevalence and types of civil legal problems.
What the work provided
Indiana-specific estimates from existing population data, documented in Appendix A of the Indiana Civil Legal Needs Study and Legal Aid System Scan. The wider report compared estimated needs with available legal aid and included separate new data collection from providers and court stakeholders. These were modeled population estimates, not a new survey of Indiana households.
When this kind of work helps
When an organization needs estimates for a particular place or population, but a new representative survey is beyond its budget and suitable existing data are available.