Chair: Tasos Christofides
Room: S4B Lajkonik
Time: 09:00 - 10:30
Date: 28 June
Session 15 - papers & presentations
| Presenting Author | Abstract |
|---|---|
| Mária Jónyer e-mail: maria.jonyer@ksh.hu | Title: <<< STAT WARS – May the force be with you! - Statistical competition for students >>> The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO) has organised a national competition on statistics for secondary school students entitled STAT WARS for four years. Teams of 4 students and their teachers may enter for the competition, who start with completing a test of theoretical questions. In 2017, 154 teams applied from the country’s various secondary schools, and the best twelve of them gained admission into the national final, which was held at the Headquarters of HCSO. The tasks of the STATWARS are built around a central topic every year, this year the focus was on the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Hungarian statistical service. In the final of the competition, the 12 teams competed in 12 stations, and in each station, a theoretical and a practical task had to be completed in time, for which they could also prepare from the predefined recommended literature. During the tasks, among others, they calculated variance, completed a questionnaire about the subjective well-being of HCSO colleagues and could have a look into the significant statistical figures of recent centuries. In addition to the specific tasks, they could get acquainted with the history of the 120-year-old building and make a short film for the promotion of the 150 years of the office. The success of the statistical competition is indicated by the fact that some teams are re-entering for it year after year, and with the participation of 154 teams, we have reached more than 600 secondary school students who are interested in the statistics, as well as the event has been included in the programme ‘TalentGate (Tehetségkapu)’ of the Office of Education. May the force be with you! |
| Maria J. Vinuesa e-mail: mariajesus.vinuesa.angulo@ine.es | Title: <<< Promoting Official Statistics through Statistical Literacy Products >>> In this post-truth era we live in, the misuse of statistics and data is a fact. Its noxious effects are boosted if by chance they become viral in the social media. This is why now it is more important than ever to reinforce the efforts to increase the statistical literacy of our society. This imply effectively promote it as much as possible. This is exactly one of the aims of the DIGICOM project where INE-Spain and some members of the EU system are collaboratively putting together their best practises and successful promotional activities. An example of this is the European Statistical Competition. |
| Javier Montero e-mail: monty@mat.ucm.es | Title: <<< Experiencing Multidisciplinarity in a Master in Official Statistics >>> This paper focusses on quality controls within the Master in Official Statistics and Social and Economic Indicators at Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), particularly to assure multidisciplinarity. Being this master a joint project of 8 different Faculties, our global approach to Official Statistics counts with the support of the members of the National Commission of Official Statistics, leaded by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The group of students it self represents an interesting heterogeneous team that indeed enrich the master. Besides a strict acceptance process, a personalized study program, regular student questionnaires and periodical staff meetings, Friday evenings are mainly devoted to complementary courses. They are organized upon demand of any member of the National Commission of Official Statistics. We were very soon asked to organize a course on communication of official statistics, developed in collaboration with a 9th UCM Faculty, the Faculty of Communication Sciences. Another course on gender in official statistics was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (Government of Spain). Other courses were focused on advanced specific use of R language and SAS in official statistics. Moreover, in collaboration with INE, we have launched the series of Workshops in Official Statistics and Social and Economic Indicators (first two editions were held at the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Statistics). We have also launched a Workshop in Big Data and Social Networks and Social Analytics. Although the students coming from our EMOS Master have the preference to attend these extra courses and workshops, they are open to other students and professionals meanwhile the number to desired participants is not reached. We not only improve the master this way, but we attract students and we also help Society to be conscious of the key role that official statistics plays in their life. |
| Eugenia Goh e-mail: eugenia_goh@mom.gov.sg | Title: <<< Improving labour market statistical literacy for organisations and individual users >>> Karl Pearson once said “Statistics is the grammer of science”. Statistics is important and useful when utilised properly. As the National Statistical Agency for manpower statistics, the Manpower Research and Statistics Department (MRSD) of Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower collects, analyses and disseminates essential statistical information on Singapore’s labour market. Helping people understand and utilise manpower statistics is just as important as our primary statistical activities. To improve labour market statistical literacy, we have different approaches to reach out to the relevant stakeholders. This paper highlights the steps we adopt to improve labour market statistical literacy and reduce statistical misconceptions among relevant stakeholders, whom can be categorised into organisations (i.e. educational institutions, private corporations, the media outlets and the public sector) and individual users. To assess the level of labour market statistical literacy among the relevant stakeholders, we conduct informal polls to gauge users’ awareness of the latest manpower statistical information and the concepts behind them. Our approach to improve manpower statistical literacy and reduce statistical misconceptions is tailored for each stakeholder. Our outreach efforts include liasing with various organisations to bring statistical information to them. An example would be MRSD’s collaborations with tertiary institutions. We conduct sessions with students at educational institutions to raise their awareness of the labour market situation and show them how such information could be used for their job search. For individual users, we publish regular papers and infographics that inform users of the latest labour market happenings and explain confusing concepts such as the concept of unemployment. |
| Mira Todorova e-mail: mira.todorova@stat.gov.mk | Title: <<< Statistical literacy and education in the State Statistical Office of Macedonia >>> In modern knowledge-driven society, the knowing how to use statistical information is a necessary skill to citizens. The State Statistical Office of Macedonia recognizes the importance of the proper use of statistical data. According to its Strategy, State Statistical Office will work on improving statistical literacy and the specific sub-program: Improving statistical literacy is defined. In the paper will be described the actions taken by the State Statistical Office to promote the statistical culture in the State. Besides, it will be given the description of post- graduated studies on "Statistical methods for Business and Economy", held at Faculty of Economics in Skopje. |