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  • At the National Statistical Institute (NSI) a Programme of Technical Cooperation with Spanish-speaking countries of America was started up some twenty years ago (1978). The aim of the programme was to exchange experiences and offer further training to professionals working at National Statistical Offices, Central Banks, Ministries of Planning and Customs, and the main institutions producing the official statistics of the countries in the Region. The training activities consist of courses, seminars and workshops, which are held both in Spain and other countries. These are also supplemented with "étages" in Spain and the sending of "experts" to the countries requiring advice on new projects. The training activities are predominantly practical, although they also have a theoretical module of statistical methodology and a conceptual framework of the different projects. The purpose of this Programme is to train personnel in the production of official statistics, pass on the new technologies from Spain and the European Union, and supply them with the material and documentation used to carry out the different projects.

  • This paper, after considering the reasons and aims that gave origin to the International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS), traces the line of thought along which the Conference developed from 1982 to 2002. This is done by applying textual data analysis to the titles of the papers published in the Proceedings of the first five Conferences, and to the titles that were on the International Programme Committee Web site on October 27, 2001. Knowing past and present enables one to present suggestions about possible future Conference scientific developments.

  • Describes the development of an artificial intelligence system called GIDE that analyzes student errors in statistics problems by inferring the students' intentions. Learning strategies involved in problem solving are discussed and the inclusion of goal structures is explained. (LRW)

  • Statistical training is recent in francophone Africa. Statistical training institutions have opened in the 60's and 70's. Three schools provide training in statistics: ISSEA in Yaoundé, DSD in Dakar and ENSEA in Abidjan. ENSEA provides 4 levels of graduate programs: "Ingénieurs Statisticiens Economistes" (ISE) on Master'sLevel, "Ingénieurs des Travaux Statistiques" (ITS) on Bachelor's Level, "Adjoints Techniques de la Statistique" (AD) et "Agents techniques de la Statistique" (AT). The career openings of statisticians are mainly in the public administration. But private sector is recruiting more and more statisticians to manage its statistical system. In spite of the programmes' performances, training institutions remain fragile given the educational, didactic, and equipment difficulties they are confronted with. Foreign supports as well as a better consideration of statistical issues by decision-makers can guarantee the timelessness of the training device in sub Saharan Africa.

  • This paper focuses on the learning, rather than the teaching, of statistics in the context of Eurostat's role in developing statistical programmes and the transfer of statistical knowledge for the implementation of monetary union in Europe. It was against this background that the Committee for Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) was established, bringing together senior officials responsible for statistics at central banks, senior statisticians at statistical offices, Eurostat and the European Central Bank statistics directorate in order to foster consultation and cooperation in areas of common interest. One of the important milestones achieved in the CMFB concerns work on new statistical methods, harmonisation, exchange of experience in the use of statistical techniques, and the general exchange of new statistical knowledge. Such knowledge transfer has not been restricted to members of the European Union but has also influenced statistical programmes of other countries, in particular candidate countries for accession to the European Union. They have a major interest in exchanging knowledge and learning more.

  • As a leader, the American Statistical Association is heavily involved in statistics education, both in terms of content and pedagogy, and also for professionals who need continuing education and further professional development. The Center for Statistics Education exists to assist in curriculum development for kindergarten through graduate levels, and to develop and manage programs, which promote the teaching of statistics, assist in teacher preparation and provide resources for teachers of statistics. The Center also provides educational opportunities in various applied sub-fields of statistics for professionals, and supplies career information to prospective students of statistics as a way to build the profession and meet the statistical needs of society. In collaborations with publishers, it has also developed a series of publications to aid quantitative literacy at different levels.

  • The important task for Ukraine is the training of specialists of the the system of national accounts (SNA) for the market economy. Therefore content of teaching of the SNA has transition to the International Standards. In 1993 the new government of the Ukraine confirmed conception of the transition of the National Ukrainian Statistics to the International Standards. Now the Ukraine has transition from planned to market economy in the areas of productive forces, structure of economy, the integration of economy to international economy and the social role of the state institutions. Knowledge about the SNA is needed for specialists of economics, management, statistics, international economy and other. I elaborate the course of the system of national accounts for the training of official statisticians and teaching of students in Universities of Economics in Ukraine.

  • The growing demand and use of official statistics are changing the culture and patterns of the statistical production. Official statisticians are now faced with an increasing number and variety of users, whose demands have to be satisfied. On the other hand, a trend towards de-centralisation of the statistical systems is now developing in many countries, with the result that the responsibility for producing statistics extends far beyond the realms of the National Statistical Offices. Also, globalisation stresses the need for harmonised statistical systems. All this sets a number of new challenges in the training of official statisticians. This paper comments on some of them, and describes some experiences and results.

  • The strategic objective of several statistical agencies is to advance people's statistical literacy and use. The demand and need for statistics is constantly increasing. Statistics and the ability to read them are needed extensively in society as a whole. Statistical literacy can be promoted in various ways, for example, by developing various information distribution channels and by training customers. This paper describes how the use of statistical information is continuously developing at Statistics Finland by means of training and gives an example of Statistics Finland´s web-based-learning project.

  • Experienced litigators pride themselves on being able to do a quick study of any subject, no matter how esoteric. However, self-help frequently does not suffice when the subject is statistics. No matter how well-prepared the expert testimony on their side, the failure of many litigators to be able to understand the statistics of the opposition adequately to cross-examine effectively has doomed many cases. Several examples will be explored, together with guidelines for statisticians who must prep the math-phobic advocate.

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