III. PROPOSED TRAINING PROGRAMS

In 1999, the National Statistical Coordination Board Regional Unit V (NSCB RU V) conducted a Training Needs Assessment (TNA) of 67 regional line agencies and 121 local government units (LGUs). The TNA aimed to conduct a realistic assessment of statistical skills requirements to effectively carry out the functions assigned to the staff of the various agencies and LGUs. The statistician, planning officer or anyone knowledgeable of the training needs of the agency was requested to accomplish the form. Some agencies required each division to accomplish the form. Of the 67 regional line agencies and 121 LGUs however, accomplished forms were received from only 24 agencies and 12 LGUs or a total of 53 individual respondents.

The TNA covered five (5) specific areas in terms of the staff's need of skill and competence. These five areas were:

1. Data Collection and Processing 

• Administration Of Field Data Collection 

• Data Editing and Coding Procedures 

• Data Imputation Procedures 

• Computer Data Processing 

• Others - MIS 

2. Statistical Report Preparation 

• Consolidation & Organization of Statistical Data 

• Designing Statistical Table Formats 

• Preparation of Graphs, and other Statistical Illustrations 

• Preparation of Descriptive Analysis 

• Report Preparation 

3. Planning and Designing Statistical Operations 

• Designing of Questionnaires and Forms 

• Designing of Surveys and other Data Collection Procedures 

• Designing of Computer Data Processing System 

• Development of Statistical Concepts, Definitions & Classifications 

• Others - Statistical Data Management 

4. Statistical Monitoring and Control 

• Preparation of Statistical Indicators on Socio-Economic Conditions 

• Monitoring and Evaluation of Projects/Activities 

• Forecasting and Projections 

5. Conduct of Statistical Research 

• Preparation of Research Proposal 

• Statistical Computing with Micro Computer 

• Application of Statistical Analysis for Research Studies

Based on the results of the TNA, statistical report preparation was the area needed all the time by the respondents. Data collection and processing, statistical monitoring and control, planning and designing statistical operations and conduct of statistical research followed it. In terms of the respondents' competence, however, there were respondents who were not so good on the following areas: planning and designing statistical operations, statistical monitoring and control and conduct of statistical research. Despite respondents' competence on data collection/processing and statistical report preparation however, it can be said that there is still a need to conduct these training courses based on the number of participants who attended these training courses. Data collection/processing which includes basic statistics, is also a requirement for other advanced training courses on statistics.

The last training on Webpage Development and Design conducted was in January 1998. Twenty six participants from agencies/LGUs in the six provinces of the region attended the training. During that time, only few agencies/LGUs were connected to the Net. Some agencies were willing to send participants then but have to defer their attendance because they were not yet connected to the Net that time. At present, most agencies/LGUs are already connected to the Internet. Not all of them however, have their own Internet site. Hence, the need for a similar training course becomes apparent.

The results of the assessment formed the bases for recommending the training programs herein proposed. At least two training programs will be conducted per year. The proposed training programs and their schedule are as follows:

The details of the above-mentioned training are enumerated below:

Descriptive Statistics - deals with the methods of collecting, organizing, presenting and summarizing data. It involves the organization of set of data into tables, graphs or charts, and other relevant data summarization techniques. It makes the presentation of statistical information more meaningful and easy to understand. This course will provide participants with the basic knowledge in data organization and presentation and develop their skills in interpreting statistical results.

Duration: 36 hours/5 days

Objectives:

At the end of the course, participants should be able to:

1. identify various types of data and their sources; 

2. describe data collection procedure; 

3. construct statistical tables and graphs for various types of data; 

4. compute descriptive statistical measures; 

5. analyze various types of data using rates, ratio and proportion; 

6. use index number to analyze and interpret data; and 

7. prepare a statistical report using descriptive statistics.

Course Content:

• Government Statistics 

• Introduction to Statistical Concepts 

• Ratio, Proportion, Percentages 

• Methods of Data Presentation 

• Index Numbers 

• Descriptive Measures (Central Tendency such as mean, median and mode; Dispersion and Variability such as range, variance and standard deviation) 

• Microcomputer Application Software 

• Statistical Report Preparation

Who may attend:

The course is recommended for personnel already involved or are expected to be involved in summarizing, tabulating, presenting and interpreting statistical data. Background in statistics is not necessary but would be helpful.

Statistical Methods for Research (Introductory Course on Applied Inferential Statistics) - provides familiarity with statistical methods that present order into attempts to make conclusions from the evidence provided by the samples. The course incorporates statistical tests to determine whether or not conclusions can be applied to a larger group wherein only a few subjects were sampled.

Duration: 36 Hours/5 Days

Objectives:

At the end of the course, participants should be able to:

1. demonstrate understanding of probability and sampling distribution; 

2. compute and interpret point and interval estimates; 

3. perform and interpret tests of hypothesis concerning population parameters; 

4. use non-parametric methods for analyzing data; and

5. analyze simple relationships among variables.

Course Content:

• Introduction to Statistical Concepts 

• Descriptive Statistical Measures 

• Basic Probability Concepts 

• The Normal Distribution 

• Basic Sampling Techniques 

• Basic Sampling Techniques 

• Hypothesis Testing 

• Analysis of Variance 

• Simple Linear Regression and Correlation Analysis 

• Test of Difference for Nominal Data 

• Chi-Square Test 

• Test of Difference for Ordinal Data 

• Statistical Software Application

Who may attend:

The course is recommended for first-level statistical personnel in government offices who are non-statisticians but are involved in research, data analysis and report preparation. Participants must have at least a college degree, as well as an adequate background in mathematics (college algebra) and descriptive statistics. use of microcomputer statistical software for data analysis.

Design and Operation of Socio-Economic Surveys (Statistical Data Management) - addresses the need to develop a reliable design of questionnaire and a systematic, well-planned data gathering processing procedures. This course will enable participants to minimize errors and observe standard operational practices when conducting actual survey. Methodologies for handling non-response and missing data by means of imputation will be discussed.

Duration: 56 Hours/8 Days

Objectives:

At the end of the course, participants should be able to:

1. design a questionnaire appropriate to the objectives of the survey; 

2. acquire sufficient understanding of principles in editing and coding of questionnaire items; 

3. prepare interview guide manual and conduct actual surveys; and 

4. use computer software for data management and processing.

Course Content:

• Sources and Collection of Data 

• Measurement and Scaling Design 

• Coding Rules 

• Questionnaire Design 

• Data Editing

• Data Imputation 

• Descriptive Statistical Measures 

• Data Presentation Techniques 

• Preparation of Field Operations Manual 

• Pre-Testing 

• Database Management 

• Field Demonstration Survey 

• Report Preparation

Who may attend:

The course is recommended for persons responsible in the design or execution of surveys and those engaged in planning exercises that use survey data in their work. Participants should have previous knowledge of basic statistical concepts.

Statistical Report Writing - teaches the mechanics of technical writing as applied to statistics and how these can be crafted to suit a variety of readers. This course will encourage participants to improve the presentation of statistical reports through available computer softwares combined with better skills when composing said reports.

Duration: 35 Hours/5 Days

Objectives:

At the end of the course, participants should be able to:

1. demonstrate understanding of the concepts and principles in writing technical reports; 

2. use appropriate words and paragraph structure; 

3. prepare technical reports using statistics; and 

4. prepare outline and abstracts for statistical reports.

Course Content:

• The Technical Report 

• The Technical Writer (Definition of Terms, Technical Work and Writing, Features of Technical Writing, Products of Technical Writing, Major Concerns of a Technical Writer) 

• Text: Words, Sentences , Sentence Patterns 

• Mechanics of Writing, Text: Paragraphs, Connectors 

• Paragraph Development (Facts and Statistics, Illustration, Process, Comparison/Contrast, Division and Classification) 

• Writing with Statistics 

• Outlines and Abstracts (The Arithmetic Principle, The Classification Principle, The Topic Outline, The Sentence Outline, The Descriptive Abstract, and The Informative Abstract).

Who may attend:

The course is recommended for participants who wish to refresh, sharpen or upgrade their technical writing skills to be able to come up with more effective statistical reports.

Webpage Development for Statistics Dissemination

Objectives:

At the end of the training participants should be able to:

1. demonstrate understanding and appreciation of importance of developing a webpage for data dissemination. 

2. Design and develop a simple webpage

Duration: 36 Hours/5 Days

Course Content:

• Introduction on webpage concepts and use of internet 

• Designing a webpage 

• Tools (Tag Structure, Welcome/Index page, font styles, text formats, special character tags, links) 

• Data Layout 

• Forms (Text, Buttons, Boxes) 

• Graphics 

• Overview of CGI Scripts

Who may attend:

Personnel who are computer literate with knowledge on computer processing and spreadsheets.

Statistics for Project Monitoring and Evaluation

Objectives:

1. demonstrate understanding of the basic concepts in monitoring and evaluation; 

2. identify indicators and set targets for monitoring and evaluation of projects;

3. prepare operational definition of variables and assign quantitative values to the identified variables for measurement of project performance; and 

4. analyze monitoring and evaluation data using descriptive statistical tools.

Duration: 56 Hours/8 Days

Course Content:

• Conceptual Framework for Systematic Performance and Evaluation 

• Project Performance Management System 

• Monitoring and Evaluation 

• Introduction to Statistics q Data Collection 

• Sampling Methodology 

• Presentation of Data 

• Statistics and Indicators 

• Test of Hypothesis 

• Analysis of Variance 

• Measures of Association and Correlation 

• Simple Linear Regression Analysis

IV. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS

The NSCB RU V, in cooperation with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will coordinate the trainings. Lecturers will come from the Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC). The trainings will be held at a venue in Legazpi City. The conduct of the trainings is in line with NSCB's continuing commitment to bring the products and services of the Philippine Statistical System (PSS) to a wider reach including the subnational level.

The National Statistical Coordination Board shall be responsible for the following:

• Disseminate training announcements and invitations 

• Coordinate with SRTC to provide a competent trainor and training module/design 

• Coordinate with NEDA on the collection 

• Serve as facilitator during the training 

• Provide for the board and lodging of SRTC coordinator/s and trainor/s

The Statistical Research and Training Center shall be responsible for the following:

• Provide competent trainors for the training 

• Prepare the training materials 

• Prepare the evaluation of participants based on the required number of hours and outputs 

• Prepare/Issue the Certificates of Completion and Certificates of Appearance

The National Economic and Development Authority shall be responsible for the following:

• Collect the registration fees and issue Official Receipts 

• Disburse payments for expenses incurred

V. BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS

For a five-day training course, registration fees to be collected from participants shall not exceed Four Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (Pph 4,500.00) per participant to cover food (lunch, dinner and morning & afternoon snacks), training materials and other incidental expenses. An additional P900/day shall be collected for training courses exceeding five (5) days.

The average financial requirement for each five-day live-in training is about P112,350.00. It will be taken from the registration fees of P4,500.00 per participant.

The table below lists the expenses to be incurred in the conduct of a training. It is based on the following assumptions:

1. A minimum of 25 participants will attend the training. 

2. The computation for food and accommodation includes the lecturer, SRTC and NSCB training staff. 

3. The honorarium for lecturer is P250/hr. Total training hours is 36. 

4. Expenses for food and accommodation shall not exceed P650/person/day. 

5. The SRTC shall bear the travelling expenses of their staff and the lecturer(s).

COST ESTIMATES FOR THE CONDUCT OF A
5-DAY LIVE-IN TRAINING