Proceedings

  • This paper focuses on education and training for the workplace in the public administration units, and discusses the relative main issues: (i) the need for quantitative skill in the public administration management and, in particular, for statistical literacy and education of the personnel; (ii) how to define the objectives of the education and a plan of training, in order to cope with the problems and challenges; (iii) the strategies, issues and evaluation of some specific experiences implemented in Italy, both for non-statistical staff of public administration and for staff members of the Italian National Statistical System (SISTAN). The paper will show that the preparation of a strategic plan of training actions has been developed using a matrix of learning and training goals to find out training priorities as well as implementing a training model to pass from focus on training to focus on professional identity, human resources development and learning.

  • Yes, and yes. Success is dependent on developing conceptual understanding, easing interpretation, simplifying validation and facilitating corrective action. Focusing on statistical theory, data manipulation and increasing mathematical sophistication blocks the road to improvement. Lessons, learned over the past quarter century, in instructional strategies, in defining learning objectives and in using interactive examples, will be reviewed. Experience, demonstrating that developing EDA, measurement, DOE, prediction and control skills are critical, will be shared. Driven by the paradigm of statistical thinking and the concepts of quantitative literacy, compatible with the philosophies of Deming, Juran and Box, these approaches can ease implementation of ISO standards and accelerate the effectiveness of Six Sigma technologies.

  • One important part of statistical education is the training of teachers. It would seem to the author that while most teacher education programmes for primary teachers include mathematics education courses, they do not specifically address statistical education. In addition, teachers who enter these programmes would have taken mathematics in school and possibly at post-secondary institutions, but their exposure to statistics would have been limited. Since statistical thinking is different from other forms of thinking, the situation seems to have implications for teacher training. Reasoning under uncertainty is a different way of looking at the world. An accountant may be very good at what he or she does, but the author, for one, would not like an accountant to perform surgery. This paper will raise some questions associated with statistical knowledge as it applies to primary teachers.

  • The OECD has recently defined a "new vision" for its statistical activities, deciding to develop a new statistical information system based on a corporate strategy. One of the targets of this strategy is to increase the positive perception of OECD statistical work within the Organisation and users in Member countries (primarily in ministerial authorities, OECD Delegations, national statistical offices, media) and in other international organisations. To achieve this target, one of the actions commenced by the OECD has been the definition of a new policy for increasing the external communication to users and policy makers about the statistical activities and results. The paper describes the characteristics of this policy, focusing on the aspects more relevant for the relationships with private and public decision makers.

  • In this paper, we will first give a few examples of the types of on-the-job problems future managers are likely to meet. Then we will expose the difficulties of teaching statistics in management schools. Lastly, we will review possible solutions.

  • In this paper an extensive reference to the problems of using statistical techniques in the political sciences is taken place. Statistics today, in the era of information outbreak can be generally defined as the "Science that is concerned with the gathering, evaluation and processing of information". Society's demand for qualitatively controlled information absolved from "noises" which intentionally or not are included, is especially obvious in a returning, from time to time discussion, about the control of the public measurements related to the Mass Media audience, political parties and persons, educational parameters, economical and social indexes and factors, etc. By following and commenting the phases of observation of electoral behavior, we will refer to some problems.

  • About 800 students each year enroll in a subject Introduction to Biostatistics at the University of Otago. It is a compulsory subject for students applying to enter the health sciences professional courses. At school there are two subjects, mathematics with calculus and mathematics with statistics, with many students studying only one of these the year before university. There is debate about which one best prepares students for gaining the high marks in biostatistics necessary for entry to the competitive professional health sciences programmes. The school syllabus in mathematics with statistics is first compared with that in Introduction to Biostatistics. Results from the analysis of marks achieved in biostatistics are reported. The fitted regression models show prior knowledge of statistics from the school subject has no effect on performance in biostatistics, that there is no gender effect and that prior knowledge of calculus may be beneficial. Reasons for these results are discussed and proposals made to improve the presentation of statistics to students of the health and biological sciences.

  • This paper deals mainly with the experiences of teaching statistics at the Agricultural Faculty in Novi Sad. Statistics was incorporated into the teaching programmes for students from the establishment of the Agricultural Faculty in 1954. Statistical programmes are oriented to different agricultural courses at the Faculty. Statistical education for agriculturists tries to give them a solid foundation in statistics. An emphasis is placed on mastering a wide use of statistical methods in order to allow the students to apply these techniques in many fields of agricultural science like: field crops production, vegetable crop production, horticulture, fruit growing, grape production, plant protection, livestock, veterinary medicine, agricultural mechanization, water resources, agricultural economics etc. Problems and dilemmas encountered in statistical education will be presented and some ideas on how to improve the teaching of agricultural statistics. It is expected that the statistical knowledge achieved by finished agricultural students will provide a solid foundation for master degree studies in Biometrics. It is necessary to emphasize the important role of teaching statistics to agricultural students for improving their general knowledge and for better use of statistical methods in research work.

  • The higher education landscape, all over the world, is in constant flux. A changing external and internal environment is not a new phenomenon in higher education but is an inherent characteristic of the higher education system over centuries. The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) was established in the United States of America in 1959. The relevant burning issues confronting higher education institutions in the USA at that point in time, and which gave rise to the need for the establishment of such an association shows that while similar issues as those in the early nineteen sixties still exist, the strategies and solutions to the problems differ substantially from those of the past, mainly due to the advancement of technology.

  • Institutional Research aims to enhance the operations of institutions through the production of data and information that are used to improve the effectiveness of the organization. Statistical organizations are well positioned in the nature of their operations to benefit from the pursuit of institutional research activity. Since such research employs a variety of statistical concepts and methods in its practice, the training of institutional research professionals is dependent upon the outcomes of education and training and the methods adopted in the teaching of statistics. This paper examines the existing functions and areas of operations as well as the new and emerging demands for statistics and indicators, which pose challenges for National Statistical Organizations (NSO'S), in the 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region. The author identifies some of the critical areas in which the practice of institutional research can be established and pursued and suggests that the training of professionals in this area will be a desirable support function at time of increasing statistical demand.

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