Session Report
Bhanvi
Data is an indispensable tool that is essential for decision making processes therefore this course is essential for anyone who wants to develop the skills and knowledge needed to manage data effectively and use it to inform decision-making. Emphasising on the need to create awareness on data and probability Generation Alpha Data Center (GenAlphaDC), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, organized A Two-Month Immersive Online Hands-On Certificate Training Course on Data, Monitoring and Evaluation spanning over eight consecutive Saturdays from June 3,2023 to July 22 ,2023. Along with this, datasets for hands-on learning were also provided for data analysis and learning.
Participants were required to make a submission for evaluation at the end of the course for better understanding throughout the course. The course consisted of hands-on data learning sessions and various expert sessions. The course especially catered to data and policy enthusiasts – including students, professionals, researchers, and other individuals looking for a comprehensive foundation for data-based policy research.
About the Data, Monitoring and Evaluation program
The training program was conducted by an expert group of academicians which included
- Prof Nilanjan Banik, Professor and Program Director (BA, Economics and Finance) at Mahindra University, Hyderabad
- Prof Mukul Asher, Former Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; Visiting Distinguished Professor at IMPRI
- Dr Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, Associate Professor, Economics, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan; Visiting Senior Fellow at IMPRI.
Other notable experts include
- Dr Devender Singh, Global Studies Programme, University of Freiburg, Germany; Visiting Senior Fellow, IMPRI
- Prof Gummadi Sridevi,Professor, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad; Visiting Professor, IMPRI
- Dr Amar Jesani,Independent Researcher and Teacher (Bioethics and Public Health); Editor, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics
- Dr Radhika Pandey,Senior Fellow, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi
- Prof Vibhuti Patel,Visiting Distinguished Professor, IMPRI
- Dr Ismail Haque, Fellow, ICRIER and Visiting Fellow, at IMPRI
- Mr V. Ramakrishnan,Managing Director, Organisation Development, Singapore
- Prof VinaVaswani,Director, Centre for Ethics, and Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Yenepoya (Deemed to be) University, Mangalore
- Mr Rakesh Pandey, Assistant Policy Researcher, Doctoral Scholar, Pardee RAND Graduate School, RAND Corporation, USA
- Prof Nalin Bharti, Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Patna; Visiting Senior Fellow, IMPRI.
The Conveners for the course were Dr Simi Mehta, CEO & Editorial Director, IMPRI and Dr Arjun Kumar, Director at IMPRI.
Second session of Day 1 was taken by Prof Nilajan Banik, he started by giving an overview about what all he will be covering in the course. The first Hands on data learning session includes topics of probability, density and distribution function along with its interpretations and realworld applications. Datasets of probability were shared with the participants for practice. He also explained how to conclude and find values for “T” test and ideology of why and what we do in these tests along with there relevance.
Probability distributions
Starting with the density function he explained that we looked into a specific variable as in what way outcome variable will vary and its linkage with policy formulation and then he mentioned about the distribution function of probability that it is used to calculate how the outcome variable is distributed among different sectors and these two functions give us an essence about the nature of our outcome variable.
Further he righteously explained the concept of probability and cumulative distribution function with the help of excel. Other methods associated with distribution function were discussed such as mean which is know as first moment function, variance that is known as second variance function, skewness- third moment, probability distributions and kurtosis – fourth moment. The concept was explained with the help of two samples and then various formulas were put on those samples to calculate density function and distribution function which was further represented with the help of a chart.
He concluded by giving a brief summary of what all has been covered in the session and datasets were given to participants for practice of probability distributions. The session ended on appositive note and one-to-one interactions as participants were eager to learn new concepts and actively participated throughout the session.
Acknowledgement: Bhanvi is Visiting Researcher, IMPRI.
Read more event reports of IMPRI here
Enhancing Application of Numerical Literacy and Data in Public Policy Applications in India
A Practitioner’s Experience of Data, Monitoring & Evaluation
