At least fifteen (15) staff from the Ministry of Public Service, Administrative Reforms, Policy Coordination and Delivery on Friday August 16, 2024 concluded the second phase of the five-day training on survey skills, tools. The first phase of the survey training was held on July 2023 at the same venue.
Organized by the Ministry and coordinated by the Civil Service Reform and Planning Unit under the said ministry thus held at the Management Development Institute (MDI), Kanifing.
The objective of the training was to help develop the capacities of the Ministry’s staff on research skills and tools in order to carry out relevant and timely surveys, thus will enhance the Ministry’s institutional capacity to conduct relevant surveys in order to inform the policy formulation process.
The training according to ministry’s officials will therefore expose the staff to the concepts, methods, and stages for the planning and implementation of a sample survey.
During his power point presentation IT trainer, Mr. Baboucarr Foon informed participants of the three types of surveys which he named as follows: Online phone interviews, Paper-based or In-person interviews.
According to Mr. Foon, when developing survey questions, you need to keep your question concise, clear and easy to understand, use mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions and avoid leading or biased questions.
Director, Facilities at the University of The Gambia (UTG), Mr. Alieu Darboe made his power point presentation on two components i.e. ‘An overview of various surveys types and Data Analysis methods.’
Mr. Darboe explained to participants the different types of surveys research which he catalogue as follows; exploratory, descriptive and causal-comparative surveys.
“Data analysis is an important part of both scientific research and business, where demand has growth in recent years for data-driven decision making. Data analysis techniques are used to gain useful insights from datasets which can then be used to make operational decisions or guide future research,” Mr. Darboe explained.
Management trainer, Business Studies Department at MDI, Mr. Yaya Sawo dwelt on the topic: ‘Challenges of Survey Data collection and solutions.’ At the end of the training, MDI awarded each participant with a Certificate of Participation.