Training

I have taught a number of short courses in economics; conducting statistical analysis in R; conducting and interpreting regression analysis; applied microsimulation modelling; and identifying sources of data. These have been taught to graduates in the Commonwealth Public Service (Department of Social Security; Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities; and the Department of Industry).

I currently run training in basic statistics; mapping (including online mapping); social and economic analysis; and microsimulation. I do all my training at your workplace, with your computers.

My basic Statistics course uses Excel, and not only covers basic statistics, but also defining your research question and planning your analysis; assessing the quality of data; the importance of distributions; and how best to communicate your findings. I don’t cover advanced statistics like regression in this course, focussing on basic statistics. By the end of this course, attendees will be able to plan, conduct, present and explain analysis to inform their work, and communicate their analysis to executives.

If there is interest, I can also conduct courses on more advanced statistics, including regression modelling, creating indices, and other statistical techniques.

My mapping course uses QGIS, an open source mapping software, and covers mapping concepts; doing your first map in QGIS; and then doing online maps in QGIS. By the end of the course, students will be able to create their own maps using their own data, and will be able to turn them into online maps for distribution on an intranet or internet.

The basic statistics and mapping courses are described more in this one pager.

I can also deliver a basic Economic and Social Analysis course that trains staff to interpret and question economic models. In particular, with many economic models, a number of questions need to be asked about the assumptions being made, and this course will train staff to ask the right questions.

Finally, I have a number of microsimulation courses which train people in using microsimulation. I believe there are few (no?) courses on microsimulation in Australia, so this is an opportunity to learn about this powerful modelling technique. These are advanced courses, and are described in this one pager.