FBS training on sampling techniques for household survey continues
By Bushra Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Federal Bureau of Statistics Wing has launched a two-week training programme on ‘Sampling Techniques with reference to Household Survey’ to enhance the technical and professional skills of the working statisticians is continuing smoothly.
The course was inaugurated by Secretary Statistics Division Asad Elahi on November 22 which has been organized by Statistics Division in close collaboration with various donor agencies like UNFPA, GTZ, DFID and ILO for capacity building of the employees of the federal and provincial governments.
Armando R. Levinson, an internationally renowned statistician is conducting this training course. He had carried out various consultancy assignments around the world. He had the opportunity to conduct so many training courses on the subject in about 30 countries of the world.
He informed the participants that this course on Description, Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion, Probability, Random Variables, Mathematical Expectations, Probability Distributions, Simple Random Sampling, Cluster Sampling, Stratified Sampling and Systematic Sampling, Interval Estimation for Population Means and Proportions, Testing of Hypothesis, Testing of a Population mean or Population Totals for large samples, Descriptive Level of Significance and Determination of Sample Size etc.
Asad Ellahi in his remarks emphasized the participants that they should learn the latest techniques for gauging the impact of various plans and policies of the government on development of the country. He elaborated that present is the age of intellectual revolution and only those nations will make accelerated progress who will acquire the latest knowledge through continuous capacity building efforts.
Secretary Statistics said the donor agencies should come forward for providing suitable assistance to enhance the training facilities in Pakistan so that more and more Pakistani statisticians could be trained for production of good quality needed not only for providing bench mark statistics for formulation of various plans and policies of the government but also for monitoring the progress through various census and surveys to be conducted through the Statistical System of Pakistan.
Principal, Training Wing, Muhammad Younis said FBS has organized about 25 training courses including 14 international courses since July 2005 when the FBS Training Wing was shifted from Lahore to Islamabad. About 458 persons have attended these courses. He expressed that this course will play an important role for improving the competency of statisticians dealing with the subject of sampling.
He elaborated that it will not only improve the efficiency, accuracy and timeliness of data production but also prove an advancement in the field of sampling. It will be a new milestone in the history of data collection on sampling basis in Pakistan that will go a long way towards collection of good quality data through various socio-economic sample surveys to be carried out by the data producing agencies of Pakistan in future, he added.