Supporting Statistics Research Postgraduates to Teach Quantitative Data Analysis to Postgraduate Students Without Statistics Background – Phase I
Principal Supervisors

Dr. WRIGHT John Alexander
(Department of Statistics)
Duration

10 months
Approved Budget

HK $200,000
 
  • Abstract

Abstract

Statistical analysis is an essential skill for postgraduate studies, especially for the research postgraduates. Sophisticated data analysis is usually involved in their research process. Feedback collected from the Elementary SPSS courses under the Improving Postgraduate Learning (IPL) Programme in recent years reflected that research postgraduate students (RPgs) would like to learn various advanced statistical methods and programming languages for their research needs. To provide flexible arrangements for accommodating their needs, engaging RPgs in Statistics to conduct workshops on statistical analyses could be a solution. The major challenge of this arrangement is that RPgs in Statistics may not have the sufficient experience in teaching statistical methods to students from other backgrounds, especially students from the non-science backgrounds who may find advanced mathematics a challenge.

The project aims to prepare and engage RPgs in Statistics to conduct workshops on various statistical analysis methods for other postgraduate students (or undergraduate students who are required to complete a capstone course involving research) who are interested in or need some knowledge about statistics in order to complete their research studies. The project is divided into 2 phases. In Phase I, which refers to the current proposal, is the development of an online platform and learning materials in the form of micro-modules for enhancing Statistics RPgs’ knowledge, skills and strategies in teaching and supporting students without statistics background. These learning materials will be tailor-made taking into consideration the learning needs and difficulties of these RPGs in Statistics. It is planned that these materials will be used for a to-be-developed series of workshops, conducted by the Statistics RPgs in the Phase II of the project, which will be implemented in the next triennium due to the constraint of one-year duration of this project. The workshop series will supplement and extend the scope of the current IPL Elementary SPSS courses.