EPRN Training on “Introduction to E- Views”

An EPRN training on “Introduction to E-views” took place at UR-CBE/Gikondo campus from 9th till 11th August 2019 (8am – 5pm). The trainer was Dr. Ggombe Kasim Munyegera a senior consultant in Mazima Research Consultancy Limited (MRC). As the dissemination of research and policy analysis skills is part of the mandate of the economic policy research network (EPRN) ; providing practical data analysis skills is the first step to creating a mass competency policy analysis, research and data analysist. EPRN organized a training session to provide practical skills to its members and other stake holders in the use of E-views for data management and quantitative analysis. E-views is one of the popular software used for quantitative data analysis and as such the training was expected to prepare junior researchers to take up high quality research tasks using modern software.

During the training, Dr. Ggombe Kasim Munyegera took a participatory, practical visual approach and group presentation to help trainees working in different areas related E-views where the ultimate goal of the training was meant to equip the participants with the basics skills to conduct data analysis focusing on the areas of basics features of E-views, answering economic problems with statistical tools, perform simple liner regression, validate the assumptions of statistical method and set uo and interpret time series models in E-views .

Among participants were a large number of University students, research fellows and consultants. The training involved giving participants preparatory knowledge about research and data analysis in order to lay ground for the practical tasks in quantitative data analysis using E-views. Most part of the training was the practical and theoretical learning. Exercises were given throughout to put in practice the theories and understandings gained. During the training, group assignments, the exchange of comments and questions were encouraged to be able to refine the work and the trainer assisted every group during the assignment by giving some rectifications.

The training was very successful in terms of providing participants with practical data analysis skills using E-views. The participants generally contributed very actively towards in- class discussions and practiced the operations as directed by the trainer. At the end of the course, the trainer delivered an assessment test and all the participants managed to obtain the pass mark and hence were eligible for the certificate.